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“•Hero is a little souvenir for you, Judge Arthur.’” 

FuoNTisi’iKCE. See pufje 26G. 


The Wide Awake Girls Series 


THE 

WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 
IN WmSTED 


BY 

KATHARINE RUTH ELLIS 
Author of The Wide Awake Girls 

R**-Ctu 

#1 

Illustrated from drawings hy 
SEARS GALLAGHER 


Boston 

Little, Brown, and Company 



Copyright^ 1909, 

By Little, Brown, and Company.. 


All rights reserved 


Published September, 1909 


r » 

SEP 21-.. 1909 


Press-work by 

The University Press, Cambridge, U. S. A. 


To 

GLADYS GODDARD 
who has been the friend of many boys and girls 
this book is affectionately inscribed. 


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PREFACE 


The author wishes to acknowledge gratefully the 
kindness of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin and Company 
in allowing her to use the poem Vantage, by Jose- 
phine Preston Peabody in this book. She also 
thanks Miss Margaret Sherwood for consenting to a 
similar use of her poem, Indian Summer. 

Books for girls are frankly suggestive, their value 
lying in their kindling power. Among the girls of 
all sorts who may read this story, there will be, here 
and there, one who loves right words. It is for the 
sake of such an occasional reader that the poems 
mentioned have been included. The schools some- 
times lead their pupils to believe that English litera- 
ture, like Latin, belongs to the past. But there are, 
here and now, musicians of the word who, partly 
because they are living, can touch our hearts as none 
of the dead-and-gone ones can. If through these 
pages some girl finds her way to the little green 
volume of Singing Leaves, or the sweet stories of 
Daphne and King Sylvaine and Queen Aimee, Cath- 
erine Smith and her friends will have done the world 
of girls a service worth the doing. 
















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CONTENTS 


Chapter Page 

I. Catherine’s Inspiration 3 

II. Getting Started 15 

III. Organization 28 

IV. With Pail and Broom 46 

V. A Day Off 58 

VI. The Opening 71 

VII. A Party at Polly’s 86 

VIII. A Fortunate Meeting 101 

IX. Landing 109 

X. The Making of a Compact .... 120 

XI. Brookmeadow 133 

XII. Arrival at Winsted 151 

XIII. Caught in a Shower 164 

y XIV. An Interlude 176 

XV. Sunday School 186 

XVI. Alice on the Way 203 

XVII. Finding a Vocation 212 

XVIII. Doctor’s Orders 221 

XIX. Journalism 246 

XX. The Three R’s 254 

XXI. The Last Party 271 

XXII. Auf Wiedersehen 284 



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ILLUSTRATIONS 


“ Here is a little souvenir for you, Judge Arthur” 

Frontispiece 

“ We must fiud a good place for it” . . . Page 17 

“ How much for your tickets? ” „ 77 

“ Sure I am not too heavy, Karl ? ” ... ,, 112 

Frieda was telling a story and the others 

were listening attentively „ 184 














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PART ONE 

STARTING A LIBRARY 


f 

1 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 
IN WINSTED 


CHAPTER ONE 
Catherine’s inspiration 

“Alma Mater, Dexter darling, do re mi — 0 
dear! It’s much harder to write than I supposed. 
I wonder why! When your heart is full of love, 
why should it be hard to express it?” 

Catherine Smith, sitting on the top step of the 
porch of her home. Three Gables, bent her red-gold 
head over the pad of paper on her knee and wrote 
painfully, her forehead puckered earnestly. She 
had been a year at college and was just beginning 
her summer vacation. All through the busy year, 
full of delightful new experiences, she had looked 
forward to the leisure of summer, in which she might 
adequately declare her devotion to the college 
which had been her mother’s and was now her own. 
From the day, the June before, when she had gone 
there to visit her friend, Hannah Eldred, she had 
felt a keen sense of “ belonging,” especially pleasant 
because her frail health had compelled her to lead 
a somewhat secluded life at home, and she had not 
felt really acquainted with the young people in 


4 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


the little town of Winsted, where she had always 
lived. 

Now all that was changing. At college she had 
been forced to conquer her shyness, and, to her 
delight, she soon found that the boys and girls 
at home were more than glad to receive her into 
their circle upon equal terms. Her physician 
parents were everybody’s friends, and Catherine, 
who adored her father and mother, was eager to 
show herself worthy to be their daughter. In 
order to do so, she reasoned, she must be of real 
service to the town and to her college. The only 
way she had thought of so far was to write an Alma 
Mater song, expressive not only of the rapturous 
loyalty of undergraduates, but of the graver love 
of alumnse like her mother. 

“It is very hard,” she sighed. “It must be 
stately and yet not heavy. 0 me! And here comes 
Algernon.” 

With a resigned air she folded her scribbled 
papers and thrust her pencil into the coil of red 
braids encircling her head. Algernon Swinburne, 
ever since his foolish mother had christened him 
for the poet, had, by turns, amused and wearied 
his fellow-citizens. While Catherine had lived 
apart, she had been spared his lengthy visits, but 
with the pleasures of social life had come its penal- 
ties and she was now on Algernon’s list and obliged 
to spend frequent hours in his really trying society. 


CATHERINE'S INSPIRATION 


5 


He came up the long walk now with a curious 
springing gait, and Catherine tried to summon a 
hospitable smile to her lips. 

Algernon refused a chair. He always appeared 
to be just going, '"and yet,'' as Polly Osgood said 
with a groan, “he almost never goes!" He perched 
uncomfortably upon the railing and opened fire 
at once. 

“ Have you seen the last North American Review f’ 

Catherine confessed that she had not. 

“There was a corking article in it on municipal 
corruption, comparing San Francisco, New York 
and Pittsburg as to graft, police efficiency and so 
on. They say Pittsburg spends two million dollars 
a year — 

“ My upper legs is going barefoot." 

Catherine lifted her eyes with a flash of pleasure. 
Elsmere Swinburne was the occasional relief from 
his big brother's monotony. Catherine loved little 
folk, and though Elsmere was known to be a rascal 
who would have tried the patience of Job, she 
somehow always found forgiveness for his enormities, 
and a delighted appreciation for his funny sayings. 
Just now he stood proudly before her, his hands 
in his pockets, his eyes fixed upon his fashionably 
clad little legs, with bruised brown knees showing 
above new half-hose. 

“My mamma buyed 'em for me. Her buys me 
everything." 


6 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


Catherine smiled, but shook her head a little. 
Mrs. Swinburne was a source of grief to all her 
neighbors, because of her persistent refusal to 
allow Algernon the chance at college that he desired, 
and even more because of her unwise indulgence 
of her younger son’s lightest wishes. 

Algernon cleared his throat and took up the 
thread of his narrative. “Pittsburg, this fellow 
Chapman in the Review says, spends two million 
dollars a year on — ” 

“Talking, talking, all the time Algy talking,” 
Elsmere broke in. “7 want to talk. Tell Caffrin 
’bout my cat-pussy. H^r awful sick. Her — ” 

Catherine sprang up. Elsmere’s conversation often 
needed to be suppressed. 

“Let’s play tennis. Algernon, will you get the 
balls and rackets? You know where they are,— 
just inside the hall there. And Elsmere may run 
after balls for us. He can, so nicely!” 

Algernon obeyed the unexpected request pa- 
tiently, and when he was gone, Catherine averted 
her face for the space of a minute. Wdiat she 
had hoped for came to pass, and when Algernon 
returned, his small brother had quietly vanished. 
“The older one may be monotonous, but the 
younger one is positively dangerous,” Catherine 
thought to herself, as she took the balls from Alger- 
non, saying: 

“Let’s not play, after all. It’s so very warm 


CATHERINE'S INSPIRATION 


7 


and Elsmere thought he didn’t want to run after 
balls. You don’t mind, do you?” 

^^Why, no, I wasn’t keen about playing,” and 
Algernon, unconscious of the maneuver he had 
helped to execute, dropped back upon the railing 
and continued his resume of the North American 
article. 

Catherine, meanwhile, having slipped the balls 
one by one into the pocket of her steamer chair, 
rested her long white hands upon the chair arms 
and sat quietly, hearing nothing of Mr. Chapman’s 
statistics, her brown eyes dreamily fixed upon the 
sloping lawn, but seeing instead the Dexter campus. 
across which girls were moving, as she loved best 
to see them, in pretty light gowns on the way to 
evening chapel. Among them all her thought 
rested most lovingly upon a little girl with a plain 
face and big round glasses. You dear old Alice!” 
she murmured, almost aloud, and roused herself 
guiltily to hear Algernon saying : 

There are a lot of wide-awake men in Pittsburg.” 

Wide-awake girls in Winsted!” 

This time Catherine really did speak aloud, and 
Algernon looked up in surprised inquiry. 

beg your pardon,” she said contritely. “It 
was verj^ rude of me, but you set me off, yourself. 
The Wide Awake Girls are really going to be in 
Winsted this summer. Don’t you know about 
them?” as Algernon still looked puzzled. 


8 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


^^Why, no. All the Winsted girls seem wide- 
awake enough, I should say.^^ 

^^But I’m the only one who has a right to be 
called so in capital letters. I’ll tell you all about 
it, but it has been such an important part of my 
life for the last year and more, that I forget every 
one who knows me doesn’t know about it all. 

“ You see, about two years ago, when I was fifteen 
and Hannah Eldred, who lives in Massachusetts, 
was not quite fourteen, she wrote a letter to Wide- 
Awake, the magazine, you know, asking for cor- 
respondents. And I answered it. Several other 
girls did, too. One was Alice Prescott, who lives 
out in Washington, and another was Frieda Lange, 
of Berlin, whose mother had known Mrs. Eldred 
in Germany years ago. Hannah kept on writing 
to the three of us, and before the end of the year 
she had met us all and really lived with each of 
us in turn. It doesn’t sound probable, but it came 
about naturally enough. The Eldreds went to 
Berlin for a few months and boarded at the Langes’. 
Then Mrs. Eldred’s mother was taken ill, and they 
had to come back to this country. The grand- 
mother lived over here at Delmar, and Father was 
called in consultation and brought Hannah back 
to stay with me a little while; and then, as her 
mother couldn’t leave, they sent Hannah to Dexter, 
to the preparatory department, and there she 
found Alice, whom she had lost sight of for a long 


CATHERINE'S INSPIRATION 


9 


time. Then when I went to Dexter, I learned to 
know Alice, and this year Frieda Lange is coming 
to America to school and she is going to Dexter, 
too. Hannah is coming out for a few weeks' 
visit here before college opens, and I'm going to 
try to get Alice at the same time, for we've never 
all four been together. I am so eager about it 
that I can't keep my mind on anything else very 
long, so that's why I said ^ Wide Awake Girls in 
Winsted' aloud. Isn't it an interesting story?" 

Coincidences are always interesting," said Alger- 
non. ^^And I think a great many things that go 
by the name of telepath}^ are nothing more. I'm 
keeping a record of peculiar coincidences that 
come under my notice. I'll put these down, about 
the two happening to go to the same college, and 
about the German and American girls finding 
their mothers were acquainted." He produced a 
note-book to make an entry. 

^^You can't include the last one," Catherine 
protested. It was because Mrs. Lange recognized 
Hannah from the letter, that Frieda wrote. But 
the meeting between Alice and Hannah was mere 
chance." 

Algernon closed his note-book and went placidly 
on as if Catherine's story had not interrupted him: 

“ As I was saying, those men in Pittsburg — " 

The telephone bell rang and Catherine went into 
the house to answer it. 


10 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


'^ril have to be excused, Algernon, she said, 
coming back a minute later. “Father wants 
something of me. You can tell me the rest another 
time.’^ 

Then, as Algernon slowly got off the porch, she 
added impulsively: 

“I marvel just to see you walk, Algernon. You 
know so very much! You seem to me to be a 
veritable walking library.^^ 

Algernon twisted his body uncomfortably and 
flushed. 

“I'd be more use to Winsted if I were a real 
one," he said, with a wistful sound in his voice that 
made Catherine look at him sharply. She waved 
him a smiling good-by as he went down the walk, 
and then turned to her father's desk to look up 
some papers he wanted. Her mind, however, 
still dwelt on that unexpected shade in Algernon's 
tone. 

“I've thought of him as a mere talking machine 
instead of a human being," she said to herself 
reproachfully. “I must make a salmon scallop 
for Father's supper. Inga doesn't know how to 
do anything but scramble eggs and boil potatoes, 
and Father's tired, I know by his voice. It sounded 
tired, but Algernon's was lonely. I wonder — " 

Dr. Harlow Smith and his wife. Dr. Helen, drove 
up to their pretty gabled house on the hill slope a 
few minutes later, their faces lighting with pleasure 


Catherine's inspiration 


11 


as the tall girl in a blue apron came out to meet 
them. The stable-boy came to take the horse, 
and Catherine escorted her parents to the house. 
While they made themselves ready for supper, 
she put the last orderly touches to the table in the 
panelled dining-room, and was ready for them with 
kisses when they arrived. 

The silent grace over, Catherine spoke: 

^^Eat and be filled, dearly beloved, because I 
have a new project and I need you to be 
enthusiastic." 

^‘What is it this time?" asked Dr. Harlow, serv- 
ing the golden scallop generously. ^‘You have 
shown diplomacy in your choice of a dish, if I am 
the one you wish to wheedle." 

Dr. Helen, pouring yellow cream from a fat 
silver jug into thin hexagonal cups, sent an in- 
terested glance across the table at her daughter. 

“Tell us," she said. 

“It's quite new," said Catherine, hesitating a 
little. “In fact it's not a half-hour old, but I do 
believe it is a good plan. You know Algernon 
Swinburne?" 

“ We have met him," agreed Dr. Harlow cautiously. 

“So had I!" said Catherine with sudden spirit, 
“and this afternoon it came to me that I didn't 
know him at all. All any of us ever do to Algernon 
is to avoid him, — ^those of us who don't laugh at 
him. And he's lonely; Father! Lonely!" 


12 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


Did he tell you so?'' 

“No. But I suddenly knew. I've seen home- 
sick girls at college, and — ^and — ^well, there was a 
little while, just a little while, when I was getting 
strong enough to do things, and before Hannah 
came to visit, that I felt that way myself, so I 
know." 

Dr. Helen's look was like a pressure of the hand, 
and she answered gently : 

“I think you are very likely right, Catherine. 
And this plan of yours is to make Algernon less 
lonely?" 

“Do you think he knows he's lonely?" asked 
Dr. Harlow. “I've thought the boy had good 
stuff in him, and if he should ever wake up to the 
fact that he's a bore, he might amount to something 
worth while. You don’t think he has, do you?" 

“Not exactly," Catherine confessed, remember- 
ing the note-book's appearance at the end of her 
little story. “But I think he has an inkling that 
he might be of more use. I told him he was a 
walking library. He does know such an amazing 
amount, you know! And he said Winsted would 
be better off if it had a real library instead of his 
kind; and then it flashed into my mind how he would 
love living among books, and how fine it would be 
for the town if all that knowledge of his could 
be used — " 

“ Like wasted water power?" suggested her father. 


Catherine’s inspiration 


13 


^^Yes. That’s just it. He has read more than 
any one in this town, except you, Father dear, and 
you are very old-fashioned in your reading. You 
never heard of some of the modern books that 
Algernon knows all about. Why couldn’t we start 
a library and have Algernon run it? It would 
make people appreciate him.” 

''It would keep him occupied at certain hours, 
and assure you of freedom from his calls,” said 
Dr. Harlow, but Catherine was in earnest and 
refused to be teased. 

"Wouldn’t it be practical, really. Mother? Alger- 
non can’t go away to school. His mother isn’t 
. willing, you know, and he needs to be here to look 
I after Elsmere. But he could study there, and lots 
of towns as small as this do have libraries.” 

The doorbell rang and Dr. Harlow went to an- 
i swer it. 

"Some one to see you, Catherine,” he said, 
t returning. 

I Catherine found Algernon himself standing in 
the doorway, his big pale eyes full of distress. 

"Excuse my coming just at supper time,” he 
said, "but I’ve lost Elsmere. No one seems to 
have seen him since we did this afternoon, and I 
thought perhaps you would remember which 
direction he went in. It was while I was in the 
house he disappeared, you know. He almost 
always comes home for meals!” 


14 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


Catherine meditated. I didn^t see him go. 

I was looking at some papers, and when I glanced 
up he wasn’t there. Let’s go out on the porch 
again, and think. You had been sitting on the 
railing and I was in the steamer chair — 0 Elsrnere 
Swinburne, where have you been?” 

Out from under the porch, rubbing eyes and 
yawning, came a rumpled little figure, bits of straw 
and dead leaves clinging to him, and a big red 
Irish setter following. 

Algernon bent down and gathered the baby 
figure up with a tenderness that made Catherine’s 
heart beat more quickly, as she picked the straws 
from the stylish shoes and socks, and the bare- 
foot upper legs. 

Where were you?” she repeated. 

''Hotspur’s house, all cozy,” sighed Elsrnere. " 
"Warm house. Did go to sleep. Bosquitoes bite 
me. Bite my legs. I want my supper,” and 
drooping over his tall brother’s shoulders he fell 
asleep again. 

"Come around to-morrow afternoon early, Alger- 
non,” said Catherine, as he moved away with his 
burden. "I have a plan I want you to help me 
carry out. I know you’ll like it. It’s something 
nice for you and Winsted.” 


CHAPTER TWO 


GETTING STARTED 

By fifteen minutes past three the next day, 
Algernon and Catherine had definitely decided 
that Winsted was to have a library, and that they 
were to devote their own energies to the cause 
and persuade as many as possible of their acquaint- 
ances to join them. 

The Boat Club will go in for it as a committee 
of the whole, said Algernon. 

“The Three R’s will be interested,^^ said Cath- 
erine, “though it is not Rest, Recreation or Re- 
freshment! 

“ And all the churches.^^ 

“And the school teachers.^^ 

“ And there are Miss Ainsworth^s novels.^^ 

“Algernon, how perfectly splendid! Do you sup- 
pose she would let us have them?” 

“ I don't see why not. They simply stand there, 
never opened. She can't any more than refuse. 
I'll ask her.'' 

“And I'll go with you. Let's do it right this 
minute.'' 


16 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


As she spoke, Catherine sprang up, and Algernon, 
his usual inertia overcome, plunged down the walk 
beside her. 

We must find a good place for it, before we get 
many books collected. We could use Father's 
twenty-five dollars for rent, of course, but it would 
be so much nicer if some one would give us a room." 

“Let me see. There's that little frame shop 
where the red-haired milliner used to be. We might 
get that. It's no good for business, away off up 
the street that way." 

“Be careful what you say about red hair," 
warned Catherine. “Who owns the building?" 

“Judge Arthur. He's a public-spirited man. 
He'll let us have it cheap anyway." 

“Good! 0, I am so happy and excited about 
it I feel like one of Hannah Eldred's squeals; I'm 
afraid if she were here I'd join her in one. Here 
we are at Miss Ainsworth's. Are you sure we dare 
ask her?" ' 

Before the prim white house set back from the j 
street, Catherine's buoyancy suffered a collapse. 1 
She had been inside that house, calling, with her 
mother, but to go there — or anywhere — on a begging , 
errand! Here Algernon's long familiarity with 
rebuffs proved of value. 

“Of course, we dare. Come on, or I'll go alone i 
if you don't want to." j 

“No, no. I'll come," Catherine answered hastily. i| 


I 



“‘AVe must find a good place for it.’” — Page 17. 



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GETTING STARTED 


17 


She had counted, without conceit, on her own 
popularity to offset Algernon’s handicap. The 
daughter of the Doctors Smith could not be turned 
coldly away. And after all, Miss Ainsworth’s 
novels might better be read than standing idle. 
Two years ago, a young bicyclist had sprained an 
ankle at Miss Ainsworth’s door, and she had 
promptly taken him in and cared for him, scorn- 
fully refusing pay. Therefore the youth, upon re- 
turning to his home, had sent out to her a great 
box full of modern fiction, an article which he had 
deeply and vainly desired while under her roof. 
Miss Ainsworth had never been given to the reading 
of novels. Her life had been quite too busy for such 
frivolities, and now her eyes were making it im- 
possible for her to read without using glasses, 
which, as a confession of frailty, she despised. So 
the books stood, new and unopened, in a fascinating 
row upon the “secretary” shelf. No one so far 
had ventured to ask for them. It had been reserved 
for these young adventurers to demand them in 
the name of public spirit. 

“We will have your name put inside them. 
Miss Ainsworth, on a neat little card, — ^^Gift of 
Miss Anna Ainsworth,’ you know. Just as they 
do in large libraries,” Catherine explained per- 
suasively, when Algernon had stated the object 
of their call, and Miss Ainsworth was regarding 
them in a silence which they took to be ominous. 


18 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


And your name will go down in the records with 
Dr. Smithes as one of the first contributors to the 
library. We intend to keep very full records and 
have them buried under the corner stone of the 
new building when we get it. We hope to get a 
Carnegie building, you know,^^ Algernon went on 
calmly while Catherine caught her breath. ^‘He 
always insists that the townspeople do their share. 

The young people will use the library if we have 
good novels, Catherine put in helpfully, when 
Algernon’s imagination showed signs of exhaustion. 

And then we can get them to reading more serious 
books by and by.” 

Then Catherine too, subsided, and the clock 
behind its painted glass door ticked obtrusively. 
Presently Miss Ainsworth opened her thin lips. 

“I’m perfectly willin’ ’t you should have the 
books,” she said grimly. “They ain’t no manner 
o’ use to me, and never was. I don’t care to have 
my name wrote inside ’em, though. And I ain’t 
perticular about havin’ it buried under any corner 
stones. But I’ll be much obliged if you’ll take 
’em away soon, for I’ve just subscribed to a set 
of me-mores of missionaries an agent was sellin’ 
yesterday, and I’d like that top shelf to put ’em 
on.” 

The enthusiasts, feeling a trifle quenched, but 
yet pleased at having accomplished their purpose, 
rose and withdrew with what grace they could 


GETTING STARTED 


19 


summon, mingling thanks with promises to remove 
the undesired literature as soon as possible. 

“Now for Judge Arthur and the building/^ 
sighed Catherine, as they reached the street again. 
“He can^t be any more gloomy about it than she 
was, and maybe he’ll do what we want.” 

The judge was not in his office, so they sat down 
to wait in the stuffy room where dusty books and 
papers sprawled and spilled over desk, table and 
the top of a big black safe. Algernon attached 
himself to a grimy magazine, having first jotted 
down Miss Ainsworth’s gift in his ever-present note- 
book. Catherine, looking about her, soon found 
herself unable to restrain her housewifely fingers. 
She was busily sweeping the dust off the big table 
with a dilapidated feather duster, and putting the 
papers into trim piles when the door opened and 
Judge Arthur, little and weazened and gray, slipped 
softly in. 

“There!” said Catherine half aloud. “That is 
infinitely better. I wish I dared throw half of 
these papers away. I know they’re perfectly 
worthless.” She took a step toward the big wire 
basket, as though to bring it conveniently near. 

“Not to-day, Miss Catherine,” and the judge 
took her hand and bowed over it. “Is this what 
they teach you at college?” 

Catherine laughed. She had never been afraid 
of Judge Arthur. 


20 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


^‘They teach us all the womanly graces, Your 
Honor/^ she answered, and not least among them 
is tidiness. I should have had you looking beauti- 
fully neat in another five minutes.'' 

Judge Arthur shivered. ‘‘ And you would doubt- 
less have made a bonfire of this," picking up one 
dog's-eared document, "'old Mr. Witherton's will; 
and this, a deed to an estate; and this, a bit of 
important evidence in a criminal case." 

‘‘Well," Catherine argued, “they shouldn't be 
left about so carelessly, under paper-weights and 
ash-trays. I do want to do some housecleaning 
for you. Judge Arthur. That's why I'm here this 
afternoon. Not just an office, either, but a whole 
building." 

The judge placed a chair for her, dusting it elabor- 
ately with Mr. Witherton's will as he did so. 

“Tell me all about it," he invited. 

Catherine took the chair, her fresh white gown con- 
trasting as sharply with its shabby leather as her 
warm youth did with the judge's withered look. 
He watched her with keen, appreciating eyes. 
Algernon in his corner read on, and Catherine 
thought best not to disturb him. Men found it 
harder to meet Algernon on fair ground than women 
did. 

The judge asked a pertinent question or two as 
Catherine unfolded the great scheme; then he drew 
a check-book from under a broken-backed dictionary. 


GETTING STARTED 


21 


There is another twenty-five for your project/' 
he said, as he signed his name with a flourish sur- 
prisingly big for so cramped a little man; ‘^and the 
room is at your disposal for six months, rent free. 
I would have it cleaned, but you seem to delight 
in doing such work yourself. I can assure you that 
the Three R's will back you up. The next meeting 
is called for a week from to-day." 

Catherine's face wore its blithest smile. “You 
are a dear to do so much," she declared. “ I was 
sure you'd be interested. If you ever want any 
cleaning done, anywhere, please let me do it!" 

Algernon had to be aroused almost forcibly, and 
Catherine carried him away, still so lost in the 
article on the jury system he had been reading 
that he could not quite take in the wonderful 
success of the call. He followed Catherine's eager 
steps to the little square frame building a few blocks 
up Main Street, and turned the key she gave him. 
It was a dingy little room, all dirt and cobwebs. 
A few old straw hats and wire frames piled among 
some big green boxes indicated the last occupant's 
business, and a scurrying of tiny feet, only too 
clearly, the present occupants' nature. Catherine 
lifted her nose in dainty scorn, and her skirts in 
private apprehension. 

“We shall have to get a lot of girls and come down 
here to-morrow and clean up; but let's get out for 
now," she said, and Algernon consented. 


22 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


They strolled along the street till they came to 
the little park, and there, sitting on its one green 
bench, talked over their list of assets. 

I keep having ideas all the time,^^ cried Catherine. 

Listen! We must go over to Hampton and visit 
the library there, and find out how they do things. 
When can you?^^ 

^‘Any time. I was just thinking I must ask 
Mr. Morse to give us a good write-up.^^ 

course. He’ll be interested. Let’s go over 
now. Or perhaps you’d better go alone. I don’t 
know him, and I never was in a newspaper oflSce.” 

Afraid of the devil?” jested Algernon, getting 
up and leaving her. Catherine watched him dis- 
appear into the office across the street. 

^‘He walks better already,” she thought with 
pride. ^^And he never made such a frivolous 
remark as that before. I do think this library 
will be the making of Algernon.” 

Back he came in a minute or two, with a promise 
of plenty of space in the Courier, and a free atlas. 

^^One they had in the office, of course; but we 
ought to have one, and every little helps. He was 
awfully interested and said it would be a fine thing 
for the town, and he’d boost every way he could.” 

''Aren’t people lovely?” sighed Catherine raptur- 
ously. "I believe even Miss Ainsworth was more 
enthusiastic than she appeared to be. And we 
haven’t even mentioned it to the Boat Club yet.” 


GETTING STARTED 


23 


“ Or the Three R^s. They are chiefly Boat Club 
fathers and mothers/^ 

“ We must see the school superintendent.’^ 

“The ministers will announce it in the churches.” 

“Yes, we must see them to-morrow. 0 dear, 
I am so tired! What time is it anyway?” 

Algernon drew a big watch from his pocket. 

“ Six-fifteen.” 

Catherine started up in horror. 

“0! And I forgot all about helping with supper. 
What will mother think?” 

Algernon watched her hasten away up the hill, 
and turned toward his own home with some anxiety. 
He had to coax his mother to take an interest in 
the new undertaking, and wished the operation 
over, but he squared his shoulders and determined 
to do his best and do it that very evening. 

Catherine, for her part, spent the evening discuss- 
ing the plan with her already sympathetic mother. 

“ It almost takes my breath away. Mother dear,” 
she confided as they sat on the porch in the dusk, 
watching the fireflies, “the way people fall in with 
suggestions. It didn’t occur to me before that 1 
could start things going. But at college I had only 
to see that something should be done, and then 
to say so; and it almost always was done. And 
I was more surprised than anybody!” 

Dr. Helen smiled, and put out her hand to stroke 
Catherine’s head, which rested on her knee. 


24 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


'^They were pretty good ideas, I judge/^ 

They were perfectly simple ones. Just little things 
like having the mail-boxes assigned alphabetically, 
instead of by the numbers of the rooms. It saved 
the mail girls a lot of work, and Miss Watkins was 
glad of the suggestion. I helped Alice sort mail, 
you know, — she does it to help pay her way. And 
then the little notices on the bulletin board were 
always getting lost under the big ones, and I was 
on a Students’ committee and often had notices 
to post, and I got them to make a rule that all 
notices should be written on a certain size sheet, 
and the board looks much neater now. And then 
there weren’t any door-blocks. Aunt Clara told 
me that they had them at Vassar, little pads hanging 
outside your door, with a pencil attached, and if 
you are out, your callers leave their messages, you 
know. It seemed as though we needed something 
like that, for some of us don’t like walking into 
people’s rooms, and hunting around for paper. 
So I started that, and they all took it up in no time. 
They were only little things, but it was remembering 
a lot of little things like that that made me dare 
try to get the library. It’s what we need, and I 
do believe it’s going to come easily.” 

Mr. Kittredge asked me to-day if I thought you 
would take the infant class in the Sunday-school 
for the summer. Mrs. Henley is to be away. I told 
him I’d ask you.” Dr. Helen waited. 


GETTING STARTED 


25 


Catherine was silent a moment. 

you know, Mother, it seems as though you 
just get started doing one thing and you see another 
one ahead of you. If I am going around asking 
every one to help the library, I don't see how I 
can refuse to help when I'm asked! But I never 
did teach anybody. Who is in the class?" 

I asked him that. He says some of the children 
are rather old for it, but the school is too small, 
or rather the teachers are too few, to make another 
class. So the ages run from the Osgood twins — " 

^^0, Peter and Perdita! I do love them. They 
are such a droll little pair. I beg your pardon, dear. 
I didn't mean to interrupt. From Peter and 
Perdita to — ^to Elsmere, possibly?" 

Dr. Helen laughed. Exactly I Could you under- 

take Elsmere?" 

Catherine sat up straight. “Yes, I could. Els- 
mere is unlucky, just as Algernon is. Everybody 
expects to be bored by Algernon and bothered or 
shocked by Elsmere. I know he is a little ^ limb o' 
Satan,' but if I'm going to take one brother on my 
shoulders, I might as well take them both. When 
does Mr. Kittredge want me to begin?" 

“Not this week. You can go and see Mrs. 
Henley and talk it over with her. You're showing 
a fine public spirit. Daughter mine, but let me 
suggest that you really can't do much work for the 
town this summer, especially if you expect to enter- 


26 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


tain guests! I don’t approve of vacations that are 
busier than the school year!” 

^‘0, the library won’t take long to start, if it 
starts at all. And Algernon will run it and his 
being busy will give me several extra hours weekly! 
And the children will only be Sundays. I promised 
Alice I’d do some Bible study this summer, anyway, 
and it might as well be done for that. She thought 
I was something of a heathen because I knew 
Shakespeare better than the Bible.” 

^^That only means you know Shakespeare very 
well, however. By the way, would you like that 
little old set in the guest-room for your library? 
I put it there, because there wasn’t a shelf free 
anywhere else, and we are rather overstocked with 
the gentleman’s writings in the rest of the house. 
Clara Lyndesay laughed at finding them there. She 
says she is going to write an essay some day on 
guest-room literature, and its implications.” 

Catherine laughed, too. ^^It would be delicious 
if she did. I wish she would write things. Mother, 
and not just paint pictures. Do you suppose 
there’s any hope of her coming back to this country 
this summer?” 

“I shouldn’t be greatly surprised. She plans 
to spend some weeks on the Isle of Wight, and that 
is so near this side that perhaps we can lure her 
over. An aunt left her a place in New England, 
you know, which she means to fit up for a studio 


GETTING STARTED 


27 


sometime. Father should be coming home now. 
Let’s go down to the corner and see if we can 
see him. 0, my daughter!” as Catherine sprang 
up and took her mother’s arm, ^‘how you have 
grown beyond me!” 

“It’s just my head that’s above you,” said 
Catherine, tucking her mother’s arm into her own. 
“It’s the fashion nowadays for girls to be taller 
than their mothers, but they don’t begin to come 
up to them in mind and manners. Miss Eliot 
told us so in History!” 

“ How about their hearts?” asked Dr. Helen. 

“I don’t know about the other girls’, but my 
heart is just as high as my mother’s!” And 
Catherine bent her head the least little bit, and 
kissed her mother’s cheek, as Dr. Harlow, turning 
the corner, met them. 


CHAPTER THREE 


ORGANIZATION 

The train on the Central was due to 

leave Winsted at 7:31). Catherine, having reluc- 
tantly left the washing of the breakfast dishes to j 

the reckless Inga, to whom their quaint blue pattern < 

was as naught, hurried down the hill and reached \ 

the dingy little station as the train shambled in. ^ 

Algernon, full of good cheer, because his mother ! 

had taken it into her head to approve his under- 
taking, gallantly helped her aboard, and began 
at once to show a list of questions he had ready 
to ask the Hampton librarian. 

The train stood still a little longer while a few 
milk cans were put on, then whistled, puffed and 
pulled slowly out. Hampton was only a short 
distance from Winsted, and Catherine and Algernon 
soon got off the train, and made their way to 
the library where they were welcomed by the kindly 
librarian and her young assistant, who proved to ' 
be a Dexter graduate. j 

The ^^stub^^ train meanwhile jogged and jolted < 
on its way, carrying with it, fast asleep, the little 


ORGANIZATION 


29 


^'limb 0^ Satan known as Elsmere Swinburne. 
Elsmere could sleep anywhere on the slightest 
provocation. Deeming it unwise to make his 
presence known to his brother until the train was 
started beyond recall, he had curled up on a seat 
behind a large family, and while waiting his oppor- 
tunity had fallen asleep. The conductor, taking 
him to be one of the overflow from the family in 
front, paid no attention to him until after they had 
left. Then he tried to rouse the child. 

“Wake up, kid! Here, you’ve gone past your 
station. Wake up, I say! Gee! We’re running 
a sleeper on this train to-day, all right,” as Elsmere, 
lifted by the collar, only sank heavily back on the 
seat when released. 

The conductor, goaded by the jests of the pas- 
sengers, yelled in the boy’s ear, to no avail. Just 
as he was abandoning the task in wrath, the child 
suddenly popped up, wide awake and interested. 

“ I want zwieback,” he announced. 

Mrs. Swinburne, having read in a child-study 
book that dry food was bone-building, had brought 
her youngest up on long crumbly strips of zwieback, 
and he was seldom seen without one. 

“What you givin’ us?” asked the conductor. 

“I want zwieback,” answered Elsmere cheer- 
fully, in the persistent tone he had learned to value 
for its efficacy. 

“ Where was your ma goin’?” asked the conductor. 


30 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


I want zwieback/^ replied Elsmere. 

“ Let me try,” suggested a soft-voiced little lady. 

“ I talked with his mother quite a bit while she was 
on. Want to find your mamma, little boy, and 
go to Grandma’s and play with all the pigs and 
chickies?” 

“ I want zwieback.” 

^^You talked with the woman, did you?” said 
the conductor. ^^Did you find out what her name 
was?” 

‘^Let me see. Yes. It’s Peters. She was talk- 
ing about going to his folks’, two miles out of 
Edgewater. She’ll be worried to death about this 
one.” 

should think she might be,” remarked the 
conductor grimly, ‘‘ for fear he’d come back. Here, 
you young Sweebock, you get off here.” 

Elsmere obligingly followed to the platform 
and suffered himself to be given into the custody 
of the station agent, to whom he presented his 
petition for food. 

‘‘A little weak in the upper story,” explained 
the conductor. “His ma had about as many as 
she could manage and gettin’ off at Edgewater 
she forgot this one. Name’s Peters, stayin’ with old 
Mis’ Peters, two miles from Edgewater. You wire 
’em to meet the express, and then you pass him* 
back. Tell McWhire not to let him get to sleepin’. 
He ain’t an easy proposition, when he’s gone to 


ORGANIZATION 


31 


Bylow, now I tell you/’ and the conductor of No. 5 
swung himself aboard. 

Elsmere had the time of his life in the two hours 
before the arrival of the noon express. The station 
agent was a sociable soul. He had a guinea-pig in 
a box, so delightful to observe that Elsmere forgot 
his desire for zwieback and became conversational. 
He told the agent the history of the polly-wogs he 
had raised ^^till they was all froggies, only one was 
deaded.” He showed the place where he had cut 
his finger in the mower-lawn. He explained how 
fond he was of back-horse-saddle-riding, and de- 
clared his intention of some day having “ frickers,” 
caressing the agent’s own sandy growth with great 
admiration. He tried to perform on the telegraph 
instrument and cried “Boo” with all his strength 
at lady, peering in at the ticket window. Al- 
together, Elsmere found traveling very much to 
his taste. The noon express stopped for a minute, 
he was thrust aboard the last car, and a few minutes 
later, according to instructions, the newsboy put 
him off at Edgewater, with a cheery : 

“ Here y’are. Bub, and there’s Ma and Gramma.” 

Elsmere had taken a fancy to the newsboy and 
did not at all wish to stop at Edgewater. He ran 
down the track after the retreating train, howling 
miserably. 

As for “Ma and Gramma,” they had been over- 
taken by the dispatch just as they were starting 


32 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


to drive out to the farm, and had come in great 
perplexity to the station. The wailing baby running 
down the track suggested nothing to them, and the 
agent could give them no satisfaction. He was 
locking up his office. There was not another 
train to stop till No. 5 should return toward even- 
ing. So, still bewildered, Mrs. Peters and her 
mother-in-law gave up their fruitless errand and 
drove away, taking with them a problem for a 
lifetime’s pondering. 

Elsmere, as the train vanished around a curve, 
sat down on the track for a while and listened to 
his own howls. Tiring of that amusement pres- 
ently, he strolled back to the station. Outwardly 
it looked much like that hospitable one where he 
had enjoyed life earlier in the day. This one, 
however, offered no entertainment beyond wander- 
ing about the platform and the unoccupied waiting- 
room. Across the street was a little restaurant. 
There were pies in the window. 

Elsmere obeyed the summons. 

“ Pie,” he said, presenting his nose to the edge 
of the lunch counter. 

“Don’t you monkey with anything,” snapped 
a girl from behind the counter. 

“I’m aren’t a monkey. I’m are a boy. Want 
pie,” Elsmere answered sweetly. 

“ You can’t get pie without money,” said the girl. 

Elsmere felt in his pocket and produced a quarter. 


ORGANIZATION 


33 


Whatever his failings, Elsmere had a redeeming 
trait of forehandedness, and had always on hand 
a hoard of articles which might be useful in an 
hour of need. The quarter bought respect at once 
and plenty of pie, also a sandwich, a tall glass of 
milk and a big rubber doughnut.^ ^ 

When he had satisfied his hunger, the traveller 
returned to the depot, and, lying comfortably 
in the shade of a baggage truck, indulged in a 
siesta, a sleep so light this time, however, that the 
rolling back of the baggage-room door shattered it. 

Sitting up, Elsemere watched the baggageman 
get a tin trunk and a canvas telescope ready for 
shipping. Presently the stub train arrived, stopped, 
and while the conductor and the agent were exchang- 
ing gossip, Elsmere got inconspicuously aboard, 
and stowed himself away in a corner, so successfully 
that it was not till the brakeman called Hampton 
that the conductor discovered him. 

Swearing softly and scratching his head in mystifi- 
cation, the conductor stood in the aisle staring at 
the ubiquitous babe, when a double cry arose: 
Elsmere, where in thunder?^^ 

Hullo, Algy!’^ 

The young assistant, who had accompanied 
Catherine to the station for the sake of talking 
over mutual friends at Dexter, looked up in surprise 
as the dignified youth who had impressed her 
greatly by his intelligence and earnestness suddenly 


34 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


stooped and lifted a dirty, tear-and-pie-stained lit- 
tle boy in his arms. Catherine laughed. Elsmere 
could not greatly surprise her. 

“Miss Adams, she said, “you have shown your 
interest in the new Winsted library. Let me 
introduce you to its mascot. 

The morning after the Hampton expedition, 
Catherine struggled awake from dreams of book- 
lined trains, with Miss Adams and Elsmere as 
engineer and fireman, to open her eyes gratefully 
upon the substantial reality of her own great room 
in its fresh bareness. At the foot of her big carved 
bed, the broad window open to its utmost seemed 
to bring all out-of-doors within the room. A 
squirrel whisked his tail across the sill as he scurried 
in and out of the branches of the window-oak where 
a grosbeak and a wren chatted sociably. The 
sunshine through the leafy boughs lighted the bare 
floor and rested on the great writing table in the 
center of the room and on the high dark dresser. 
Catherine's gaze, follo^ving the light, rested at last 
upon the low bookcases filling the chimney corners. 

“I can spare one Child’s Garden of Verses’’ she 
mused, “and that second Little Women, I wish 
they could have the Walter Crane and Kate 
Greenaway picture-books, but I couldn’t possibly 
let them go. I loved those little urchins in the 
children’s room, — especially that curly-headed little 


ORGANIZATION 


35 


boy reading a bound Wide-Aioake — 0!'^ She sat 
up in bed and tossed her thick braids back. 

wonder if I ought? Or even if I could?’^ 
Out of bed she slipped, and crossed the room 
to the bookcases. Opening one, she ran her 
finger-tips tenderly along the stout backs of a 
row of dark red volumes. “My very own Wide- 
Awakes! What a storehouse they would be for 
the little folk! They neednT be allowed to circulate, 
so they'd not wear out badly. They could just 
come in and read them there. I was going to give 
them my little rocking-chair, anyhow. 0, dear! 
I'm afraid I'm really going to let them have you, 
you dear, dear books. It would be selfish to keep 
you up here all the time, when I almost never open 
you. Nobody shall have this one, though, with 
Hannah's letter in it." 

She turned the pages of one of the latest volumes 
.and paused at a neat little paragraph: 

“Dear Wide-Awake: 

“I have been taking you ever since I was a 
child. I will be fourteen my next birthday. I 
like you very much. I would like to correspond 
with any one who is about my age. I have no 
brothers and sisters, and get very lonely. I have 
read all Miss Alcott, but I wish she had let Jo 
marry Laurie. I like the Wide-Awake stories. 
Please have a good long one about boarding-school 


36 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


in the next number. I like Dickens, but I can^t 
bear Scott. I know John Gilpin and Baby Bell 
by heart, and I am in the eighth grade. I like 
skating and rowing. There is a fine pond near us. 

Your loving reader, 

^‘Violet Ethelyn Eldred. 

“P. S. Nobody knows that I am writing this 
letter, so please print it soon to surprise them.’" 


Catherine kissed the page and closed the book. 
“Isn’t it too unbelievable that that queer little 
letter with that ridiculous fancy name at the end 
should have done so much? Violet Ethelyn Eldred! 

It hasn’t nearly so pleasant a sound to me now as 
Hannah. And the child thought no one would | 
write to her if she signed her own name, — it was j 
so ^ homely ’ ! Ah me ! I suppose I should be getting ' 
dressed instead of sitting about in the sunshine, i 
mooning. I wonder if Inga will remember the 
muffins for breakfast.” i 

“Polly Osgood wants to see you, Catherine.” j 
Catherine, busily sorting linen in the up-stairs ’ 
linen room a little later in the morning, leaned over • 
the railing in answer to her mother’s announcement I 
from the hall below. i 

“0, Polly, do come on up. I’ve a little more i 


ORGANIZATION 


37 


to do and we might just as well talk while Tm at it. 
Hava you called the Boat Club meeting?'^ 

Polly Osgood came running up the stairs. She 
was a slender little girl with big blue eyes and 
yellow hair. 

^‘Yes/^ she answered brightly. ^^IVe called 
it at ten. IPs almost that now. Tom canT come, 
of course; he^s always so busy daytimes, but I 
think all the others will be there.^^ 

HasnT Bert something to keep him?’^ 

^^Not just now,’^ Polly laughed. '^He sub- 
stituted in the post-office last week, and the week 
before that in a hardware store, but just now he 
says nobody seems to need him, and he's reading 
law in private." 

^^He's such a goose," and Catherine put two 
mated pillow-cases together with a little pat. Inga 
never knows enough to put things in pairs, and 
Mother wouldn't dare begin to look them over. 
If she should do an5rthing so domestic, half Winsted 
would break out with mumps or chickenpox. 
Where did you say we'd have the meeting?" 

''At the boat house. We might as well use it, 
now we have it. But I didn't know you broke 
out with mumps." 

"That's only figurative. Polly, why have you 
gone back to braids and bows? You look very 
infantile for a real Wellesley sophomore." 

"I got tired of the bird-cages and puffs, and 


38 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIKLS 


decided I’d go back to nature. Besides, playing 
around with Peter and Perdita you need something 
stationary. They work dreadful havoc with a 
stylish coiffure.” 

wonder if I’d have to put my hair down just 
to teach them on Sundays? Mrs. Henley is going 
away, you know, and I’ve been asked to take her 
class.” 

“0, I do hope you will,” cried Polly. ^^You 
would have a civilising influence on Perdita, and 
she needs it. Peter keeps her in order so well 
she never does anything very bad, but she is poten- 
tially a little terror.” 

“She always seems very mild when I see her,” 
commented Catherine, patting her piles into straight 
lines. “But you can’t always tell about people 
by looking at them. I, for instance, have all my 
life been expected to be ladylike, just because 
when I was little I hadn’t strength enough to be 
naughty. And many and many a time I have 
felt like doing something wild and shocking!” 

“Why, Catherine Smith!” exclaimed Polly in 
amazement. “You always seemed to me a sort 
of beautiful princess up here on the hill, and, good 
as any of the rest of us might try to be, we never 
could hope to be as good as you. Have you honestly 
ever wanted to be bad?” 

Catherine laughed, a funny little gurgling laugh. 
“I honestly have-not wicked you know, but— 


ORGANIZATION 


39 


well, reckless! And I never had the courage to do 
anything very startling till last year at college/' 

She stopped and laughed again. 

'‘Tell me," Polly insisted. "I'll never tell. 
What did you do? Was it fun? Tell me!" 

Catherine's eyes twinkled. "I made up my 
mind that it was my one chance, for no one there 
belonged to me, and my tiresome reputation for 
propriety hadn't had time to get started. So one 
day I got up late, and was late to breakfast, and 
cut a class, and — " She laughed so hard that Polly 
wanted to shake her. "0, Polly it was such a 
ridiculous thing to do! I talked slang and chewed 
gum!" 

Polly gasped. "Did you like it? What made 
you stop?" 

"People. They were so astonished. And, be- 
sides, I hated the gum. Inez Dolliver used to chew 
it with such gusto that I thought it must be rather 
good. And the slang sounded so easy and, — 0! 
lighthearted, you know, and friendly. Wlien you 
and Hannah Eldred use it, it never seems offensive, 
just pleasant and gay. But every one looked so 
worried and puzzled all day at me, that I decided 
to stop. And next day they seemed so relieved. 
I told Dy-the Allen later about it (she's the dearest 
thing!) and she was very philosophical. She told 
me it wasn't becoming to my general character, 
just as pink wasn't becoming to my hair. I told 


40 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


* her I had always loved pink, and wanted to wear 
it, and she suggested that I wear it at night. It 
wouldn’t show in the dark and it was an innocent 
desire; and perhaps if I did that, I’d not want to 
use slang or chew gum. I didn’t, after I had tried 
once, anyhow! Polly Osgood, here we are sitting 
around and I’m telling you foolish stories about 
myself, when we ought to be discussing library 
matters.” 

“The other was more interesting,” sighed Polly. 
“ I’m going to give up slang myself soon. I never 
did chew gum! But I’ve been terribly bored 
lately by some rather flip young creatures I’ve had 
to see more or less, and I decided to cut it out 
and talk plain English. What are you smiling at?” 

Then, as her own earnest sentences came back 
to her, she reddened a little, and joined Catherine 
in smiling. “Isn’t that a fright? I mean, isn’t 
that startling? I didn’t know I used it so much. 
Do you suppose I can cure myself and still have 
time and attention to give to starting the library? 
It’s time we were down there now.” 

“ All right. I’m ready, as soon as I get my hat. 
Do you ever wear them at college?” 

“Never. Now while we go along, tell me just 
what your idea is. What did the Hampton ladies 
say?” 

Catherine thrust her hatpins in, as she hurried 
down the steps. 


ORGANIZATION 


41 


^^They advised having some club take it up, 
for a time at least, and they thought it would be 
nice to have it be the Boat Club instead of a literary 
one, because the literary ones often have a spirit 
of competition, and if one of them started the 
library the others might not feel inclined to use it” 
see, and the Boat Club, besides being un- 
sectarian and interdenominational and non-partisan, 
has a lot of waste enthusiasm and energy that might 
just as well be put to work. Father says he is sure 
that when the thing is really running, the council 
will vote a tax and take it off our hands. You 
are sure Algernon can run it? I thought it took 
years of special training. 

^^It does,^^ Catherine answered gravely, ^^but we 
could not afford a trained librarian, and Algernon 
is intelligent and will study. Miss Adams gave him 
hints as to books to get, and she will help him. 
He can go over there when he gets into difficulties. 
She seemed to like him. They talked about all 
sorts of technical things,— Algernon had a lot of 
information stowed away in his head, of course, — 
and she didffit seem bored at all. 

'HVe often thought I shouldn’t be, if I knew 
anything about the subjects he talks about,” 
confessed Polly. ''There are Bertha and Agnes.” 
She trilled to the two girls ahead, who turned and 
waited. 

On the flat roof of the boat house half a dozen 


42 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


members of the club were assembled. Polly has- 
tened to take her seat and call the meeting to order. 

^‘Max Penfield will act as secretary, and we shall 
expect the minutes done in the most approved 
University style. Archie Bradly, will you please 
state the object of the meeting?’^ 

^‘Fo^ de Ian’s sake, no!” ejaculated Archie, sit- 
ting up and shutting his knife. “That’s the very 
thing I came to find out!” 

“Very well,” said Polly, twinkling. “Then, of 
course, you will pay close attention. It will do you 
more good than carving Andover on the benches. 
There’s not much space left on them, now, and 
it’s still early in the season. Catherine, will you 
tell us the object of the meeting? Ouch!” for 
Archie had reached lazily behind her and given 
one of her yellow braids a gentle yank. 

“You all know, already,” began Catherine, 
“except perhaps Archie! We’ve talked it over 
with the older people, and they think it’s perfectly 
practical, only some one or some organization has 
to take it in charge.” 

“What’s ^it’?” asked Archie innocently. 

“Why, the library. The Boat Club is going to 
see that Winsted has a public library.” 

“Turn into Carnegies?” inquired Max, doing a 
sketch of Geraldine Winthrop on the margin of 
the secretary’s book. 

“Not exactly. We haven’t got our own dock 


ORGANIZATION 


43 


built yet, and I don’t think we are in a position to 
endow libraries. But I mean we can work and 
talk—” 

''Talking’s work,” complained Archie. "That’s 
redundancy.” 

" It is, when you keep interrupting,’' cried Bertha 
Davis. " Go on, Catherine. Don’t mind him. 
Just how can we work?” 

"Well, the room will have to be cleaned thor- 
oughly, and we girls can do most of that if the boys 
will help a little. And there will have to be some 
plain shelves put up for the books.” 

"Me for the carpenter job!” cried a long-legged 
youth who had lain thus far in the shade of his 
own hat, in entire silence and apparent uncon- 
sciousness. "It’s just what I want to cure my 
brain fever.” 

"Overstudy? Or overwork reading postals last 
week?” asked Agnes, smiling into Bert’s half-shut 
eyes. 

" It’s more likely fatty degeneration of the brain, 
if it’s Bert Wyman that has it,” said an emphatic 
voice, and a spruce energetic maiden joined the 
group. "I just got in on the 10:10, and Mother 
said you were all over here. What’s before the 
house?” 

"Nothing. We’re all on the house,” explained 
' Archie dryly, but Polly answered the question with 
careful courtesy. Dorcas listened. 


44 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


^^Very well/^ she said, when Polly finished. 
it is in order, I move you. Madam President, that 
we proceed to clean the library at once.^^ 

“0, Dorcas, not to-day!'^ groaned two or three, 
while Max remarked in an aside to no one that if 
it was in order it shouldn’t need cleaning. 

Why not to-day?” asked Dorcas briskly. How 
you-all can loaf around the way you do is more than 
I can comprehend. Dot, your hair is coming 
down.” 

Dot, who was called Dot, because she was a dot, 
though her parents had intended her to go through 
life as Geraldine, lifted her eyebrows slightly, and 
removing her four hairpins, shook down her hair 
and did it up again. The process took four seconds. 

“I’d rather have Dot’s curls than Dorcas’ brains,” 
growled Bert to Agnes, who reproached him with 
a look. 

While Dorcas’ motion was waiting for a second, 
there came down the road two pretty girls, in fluffy 
gowns, their white sunshades tilted charmingly. 
Max slammed the secretary’s book shut. 

“Hurry up and let’s adjourn,” he said, and 
Archie, suddenly energetic, seconded the motion 
and carried it, so far as it concerned himself, by 
going out to meet the newcomers and invite them 
to go canoeing at once. Max followed suit, and 
the meeting broke up unceremoniously, but with 
a sense of valuable achievement. 


ORGANIZATION 


45 


Dorcas, uttering harsh judgments .upon the 
parliamentary methods of Polly Osgood, and, by 
inference, of all Wellesley College, attached herself 
to Bertha and Agnes for the homeward walk. 

“See here, Dorcas Morehouse,^^ said Bertha 
so suddenly that her sister and Dorcas jumped. 
“If you think that just because you have been 
to Chicago University for a quarter, you are going 
to run us all, this summer, you are mightily mistaken. 
Agnes and Dot and I never went away to school, 
and neither did Bess nor Winifred, but we aren^t 
stupid, and we wonH have you patronizing us. 
Catherine Smith is intellectual enough for any 
one, and she never snubs or patronizes; and as for 
Polly Osgood, you wouldn^t dare hint a criticism 
of Wellesley if she were within hearing, and you 
know it. So there! If this library scheme is 
good enough for them, it is for the rest of us, and 
if you don^t like it, you can just stay out of it!'^ 

Whereupon, Bertha, having delivered herself, 
even more to her own astonishment than to any 
one else^s, turned at the first corner and walked 
rapidly away, leaving her embarrassed sister to 
placate the wrathful Dorcas in any way her gentle 
heart suggested. 


CHAPTER FOUR 


WITH PAIL AND BIIOOM 

^‘Please forscuse me. Here's the key/' and 
Elsmere held out to Catherine the aforesaid article, 
his honeyed voice and polite words matched by a 
cherubic smile. 

^^The key?" asked Catherine. ^‘0, the key to 
the library. How did you get it?" 

^‘Algy give it to me. I Algy's little help-boy," 
smiled the cherub. 

Catherine tried to take the key, but it refused 
to come. 

“What's the matter?" she asked. “It seems to 
be caught." 

Elsmere squirmed a little. “Tieded," he mur- 
mured, and Catherine, bending closer to investigate, 
discovered that the key was so secured to the child's 
apparel that sharp steel was necessary to sever 
the connection. 

“Algy hasn't too much confidence in his little 
help-boy, after all," she thought. “Thank you, 
Elsmere. Now run along home like a good boy." 

“No^ Elsmere go, too, like a good boy. I help." 


WITH PAIL AND BROOM 


47 


Catherine sighed. The library was to be cleaned 
that morning as soon as the girls could be spared 
by their respective mothers. She had been waiting 
for Algernon to bring the key, and had counted on 
his muscular assistance in the labor before her. 
Now, instead, she had only the key, and that almost 
as hopelessly affixed to Elsmere as it had been before 
she cut it loose. She took up her bundle of rags, 
scrubbing-brush and soap resignedly, and calling 
Good-by to Dr. Helen started off down the hill. 
On the way she stopped for Agnes, who came out 
with a broom. Polly, bearing a pail, met them 
at the corner. At the library they found Bertha, 
mop-laden, pressing her nose against the pane to 
see inside. 

Hello she called to them. ^^How can we get 
hot water? 

Let^s go over to Henderson^s and borrow a little 
oil stove for a few hours, and wedl heat the water 
in this pail. One of you might go to the pump in 
the park and get it full now. Whose broom? 
touching one, leaning by the window. 

“DoPs. She came and went off again. Bert 
passed, driving a ten-cent express and she hailed 
him and they’ve gone over to Mr. Kittredge’s to 
get the books he promised.” 

“The crazy children! Where will we ever put 
books to-day, with the room in such a state?” 
Catherine fitted the key to the lock, and the band 


48 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


of cleaners entered, unrolled their big aprons and 
began, with much energy and good nature, to sweep 
down the walls and ceiling and gather the milliner's 
rubbish into two big baskets found in the shed. 
Elsmere picked over the pile, making rapturous 
discoveries. 

“ Aren't these very small bushel baskets?" asked 
Agnes. “ They fill up so fast." 

“They're just about the average size, I think," 
remarked Catherine. “ They don't vary much more 
than yardsticks do in length! But I do wish some 
of those lazy boys were here to carry them out and 
empty them for us." 

“Wdiat's that?" asked Max's voice in the door- 
way. Immaculate in white flannels, with Bess 
by his side, bewilderingly beruffled, he viewed the 
scene before him dispassionately. 

Catherine and Agnes, red and warm and some- 
what dishevelled, returned the gaze for a moment 
silently. In that moment an entirely natural 
resentment was forced into outward pleasantness. 

“We were just wishing some one was here to 
make a bonfire of this d&)ris for us," said Catherine 
cheerfully, “but never mind. There comes Polly 
with a man from Henderson's, and he'll take it 
out." 

“ All right. Wish you luck. We'd stop and help, 
only we've got to meet Arch and Win, and we're 
late already. So long!" and Max lifted his cap. 


WITH PAIL AND BROOM 


49 


Bess waved her sunshade, and the two went around 
the corner out of sight. 

The man from Henderson’s did some lifting very 
willingly, rescued what was left of the water Bertha 
was tugging from the park, lighted the stove and 
even stayed to poke the bonfire he made for them 
in the street, and keep it from spreading. 

^^It’s a good thing,” he said, as he went away 
amid a chorus of '^Thank you.” “Everybody’d 
ought to help all they can.” 

^‘I’d like to make him a member of the club,” 
growled Polly, “ and turn one or two people I could 
mention out.” 

'^Dorcas doesn’t seem so zealous as she did 
yesterday,” remarked Catherine. hope she 
isn’t angry, because we didn’t fall in with her 
suggestions.” 

Bertha looked conscious, and stole a glance at 
Agnes, but said nothing. Catherine, catching the 
look, laughed. 

Father says Dorcas does us all a lot of good, 
as a counter-irritant. Whenever we begin To feel 
a little cross with each other, we all turn in and 
feel very cross with Dorcas. I was simply raging 
when Max and Bess sailed by in their purple and 
fine linen, but at least they hadn’t pretended to 
*be interested, and Dorcas — ” 

^^She may be busy,” said Agnes. '^There’s 
a lot of work at their house, and Dorcas usually 


50 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


does her share. Til say that much for her, though 
she does make me awfully angry sometimes. Where 
is Elsmere? He might go over to the store and get 
something to polish this window-glass with.’^ 

^ don^t know. Elsmere! Elsmere! Where are 
you? Come here, dear.^^ No response. 

“0, never mind,^^ sighed Catherine wearily. 

I’m not responsible for him. It is a relief to have 
hiih out of the way for a while. I wanted to send 
him home before, but he had such a sweet lady-like 
way with him this morning, I couldn’t bring myself 
to. Girls! Hark!” 

The four laborers had dropped upon a long box 
to rest a few minutes from their toil. Their low 
voices had been the only sound. Now distinctly, 
in a remote corner of the room, could be heard 
a little scratch, scratch. Then across the floor, 
serene and fearless,- right where I had been sweep- 
ing,” Catherine said later with a shiver, ran a small 
gray mouse. 

With one accord the four tucked their skirts 
about them and sat closer. No one spoke, but 
each measured the distance to the door with an 
accurate eye. And then, silently, but with haste, 
they beat a swift retreat. 

The fair wide street before them, the door shut 
behind them, they drew deep breaths of relief,- 
though each avoided the others’ eyes. 

“Some girls wouldn’t mind going right up and 


WITH PAIL AND BROOM 


51 


killing it,” said Polly, ^^but I simply could not/^ 

“Nor 1,” said Catherine firmly. “I could go to 
battle or the stake like Joan of Arc, but I draw the 
line at mice.^^ 

“ What^s the matter? What are you all out here 
for? I thought you came to clean.^’ 

It was Dorcas, of course. The girls hung their 
heads with shame, and Bertha, who had defied 
her so boldly when last they met, answered with 
meekness. 

“We did. But there^s a mouse.^^ 

Dorcas looked them all over with an expression 
of deep scorn. 

“Give me the key,^’ she said, and it was given 
to her. 

Then the fearful ones flattened their faces against 
the unwashed window-pane to see what would 
happen. The little gray creature placidly nibbled 
a tidbit in a corner. Dorcas approached him. 
He lifted his head and regarded her. She faltered 
a little and glanced behind her. She even felt 
hastily of her skirts. The respect in the watching 
faces lightened a little. Every woman is born 
knowing how mice delight to hide in skirts. 

After a moment Dorcas opened the door and 
came out, passed the group of watchers without a 
word and crossed the street to Henderson^s. Com- 
ing back a minute later with a trap, she re-entered 
the room, set the trap and waited. So did the 


52 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


others, breathless, clinging to each other. Bert 
and Dot, driving up on their ten-cent express, 
saw that something unusual was going on, and 
drove quietly around into the alley. Peeping in 
at the back window, they took in the situation 
quickly: Dorcas on one side of the room, the little 
gray mouse on the other, the trap between. The 
silence lasted for several seconds. Then came a 
sharp crack! And Dorcas, throwing her arm across 
her eyes, ran out of the room with a shriek and fell 
upon Agnes, who was nearest. 

“ He^s killed,^^ she sobbed. “ I — I saw him 
“So he is,^^ soothed Agnes. “None of the rest 
of us would have dared set the trap, if we had been 
bright enough to think of it. There! It was har- 
rowing, but it^s all over now.^’ 

“No, no,^^ shuddered Dorcas. “He^s in there 
yet, and he^s dead!” 

Catherine spied BerPs two mischievous eyes look- 
ing around the comer of the building. In an in- 
stant she had despatched him to clear the room 
of its horror, and was bringing Dot, a protesting 
prisoner, to join the group. 

“Where did you come from?’^ asked every one, 
while Dorcas collected herself 
“0, our chariot^s just outside,^’ answered Dot. 
“We saw you all peeping in, so we drove around 
behind to have a look ourselves. Got there in 
time to see the final fatality. Dorcas was heroic 


WITH PAIL AND BROOM 


53 


until she won. Are you girls honestly afraid of 

micer' 

am of live ones/^ confessed Catherine. 

I am of dead ones/^ said Dorcas. 

Dead or alive, they, ^ turn my blood to ice within 
me, and make the breath of my heart wax pale,' 
as the lecturer said last night," said Polly. “But 
now that you dare-devil people have cleared the 
field for action, we may as well go in and scrub. 
We'd only just finished sweeping. Dot, you may 
take the death-bed boards. And, 0, there conies 
Bert, back from the funeral. As President of the 
Winsted Boat Club and Library Association, I 
hereby appoint you and Geraldine Winthrop a 
Standing Mouse Committee with full power to 
act." 

“ Dorcas to be official executioner, I trust," and 
Bert held the door open for Dorcas, bowing low 
as she passed. 

That afternoon the B. C. & L. A. gathered in 
force. Even Tom Davis, brother of Bertha and 
Agnes, asked for a half-day's vacation and helped 
Algernon whitewash. Bert had impressed Max 
into carpentering, and the work of bookcase- 
building went on noisily inside the shed. The girls 
sat on the weedy patch of ground outside, sewing 
sash curtains. 

“It would be quicker to make them on the 
machine at home, but not nearly so much fun," 


54 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


said Agnes. ^‘How many books did you and Bert 
gather up this morning, Dot?^^ 

‘‘Fifty-three volumes besides Miss Ainsworth’s. 
Those were already over here in the shed. Where 
is Archie?” 

“ He and Winifred are coming. They were going 
to bring a rug Win’s mother said we could have, 
and two lamps.” 

“They will enjoy carrying them over this hot 
afternoon!” said Bess, deftly hemming a curtain. 
“But it can’t be so bad as this morning. Girls, 
we had a perfectly dreadful time. It was all on 
account of that terrible little Swinburne boy. 
You see, we thought we’d take the big Penfield 
boat, instead of the canoes, and just as we were 
pushing off, that child stepped into the boat from 
the dock and announced serenely that he was going 
boating-ride. He did look dear, and quite clean, 
and we all knew that it was hard to make him change 
his mind, so we let him come. He sat very still 
and was as good as gold till we had got a long way 
from home, and then he began.” 

Catherine sighed appreciatively. “I can imag- 
ine, Bess dear. But do tell us.” 

“ You can’t imagine. Nobody could. He talked 
a blue streak. And the things he said! He asked 
what he was made of, and how God got the eyes 
in. He told about somebody’s having a tooth out 
and went into dreadful details. And then he got 


WITH PAIL AND BROOM 


55 


off on a worse tack, and asked Archie where his 
wife was, and when Archie said he wasn^t married, 
he sighed and looked so sorry, and said: ^Wasn^t 
you ever marwied, Archie? Not even once?^ He 
simply spoiled our morning. It wasn’t so much 
what he did say, as what we thought he might be 
going to. We had to turn around and come home 
long before we wanted to, just on account of that 
child.” 

^‘If you had only thought to have Win sing to 
him,” said Catherine. “He will drop off to sleep 
with the least assistance, even when he seems 
widest awake, and Win’s lullabies are irresistible. 
There! that’s the last curtain. And there come 
Archie and Win with a donkey-cart, and — ^why, 
what do you think they have? It can’t be just 
a rug and two lamps.” 

Every one broke off work to go to meet the 
donkey-cart, a low, long, box affair, with Winifred 
and Archie on the seat, and a quantity of furniture 
and boxes in the back. 

Algernon, still holding a brush, took the donkey 
by the bridle and backed him up. 

“There, unload everything. It’s all right. I 
sent these folks after them. Didn’t have time to 
go myself. Yes, yes, they belong here. The Three 
R’s sent the table.” 

With eager exclamations, the boys and girls 
unloaded six chairs, an oak table, a rocker, a box 


56 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


spilling over with stationery and colored cards, 
a miscellaneous lot of books, two neat rugs and 
half a dozen lamps of a variety of styles and shapes. 

^^The Three R’s gave the table and chairs,^' 
explained Algernon, ‘‘and Mrs. Kittredge said to 
call at her house for the rocker and some of those 
lamps. And these other things I bought. Miss 
Crockett over at Hampton told me what to order 
and they came to-day, and I opened them up at 
the house. 

Catherine came up beside Algernon and watched 
him unpack the boxes of cards, pens, paper clips, 
mending tissue, paste, shears and other new and 
shining articles. She was distinctly surprised. A 
large share of their little capital must have gone 
into these purchases. And Algernon had told no 
one, not even herself, that he was buying them. 

Dorcas caught up a sheet of the paper. 

“ It seems to me it’s rather fresh of you to spend 
the association’s money for paper with your name 
on it, without knowing whether the permanent 
organization will want you or not.” 

The glow faded from Algernon’s eyes. The 
consideration with which he had been treated these 
last few days had taught him to estimate properly 
the tolerance which had been all he had received 
before. Catherine, even, looked puzzled and not 
quite pleased. 

“0, I say,” he protested sadly. “You don’t 


WITH PAIL AND BROOM 


57 


think rd go and spend the public money, do you? 
I thought it would be fun to have these things all 
ready. I didn^t know you'd rather have had me 
give the money and let the rest of you send in the 
order. I just did it for my share, — ^I'm awfully 
sorry." 

Catherine lifted her head brightly. 

Indeed, you did exactly right. None of us 
would have known half so wisely how to use it. 
What did I tell you people? How many towns 
have librarians who work without pay, and furnish, 
all their materials besides?" 

Bert suddenly mounted the seat of the donkey- 
cart. 

What's the matter with the Boat Club?" he 
inquired hoarsely. 

“We're all right," modestly replied the Boat 
Club, boys and girls together. 

“WHiat's the matter with the Three R's?" 

“ They're all right." 

“ What's the matter with the library?" 

“It's all right." 

“And now three cheers and a tiger for A. Swin- 
burne, librarian. Hip, hip, hooray!" 


CHAPTER FIVE 


A DAY OFF 

^^Not going over to the library to work to-day?^’ 

“Not this morning. Mother Nature says I'd 
better not." 

Dr. Helen put her hand on her daughter's fore- 
head. “Too tired?" she queried, with a note of 
anxiety in her voice. It had been only in the last 
year or so that Catherine had been well enough to 
do the things other girls did, and she was always on 
the lookout for indications of over-exertion. 

“No," answered Catherine, pulling her mother's 
firm strong hand down to her lips and kissing it. 
“And I don't intend to become so. Things can 
wait for a day, or the others can go on without 
me. I'm going to be a private citizen and stay 
at home and mend. Can't you sit and sew too. 
Mother?" 

“Perhaps I can for half an hour," said Dr. Helen, 
“and you certainly need to give your clothes some 
attention. When you go up stairs to get your 
things, bring down that brown silk waist, and I'll 
make the collar over for you." 


A DAY OFF 


59 


In a few minutes the two were cozily settled in 
the little alcove off the big book-lined living-room, 
a pleasant breeze bringing morning freshness in by 
way of an open window. 

Mother, said Catherine suddenly, “you and 
Father have brought me up very differently from 
most girls.” 

“How?” 

“ Why, about taking care of myself. Some of the 
really nice girls seem to think it’s perfectly all 
right to be sick, even when it could have been 
avoided. And some of them think it^s rather fine 
to be ailing.” 

“Do you mean they want to be petted? That^s 
natural enough.” 

“Not iust that. I don^t mind that. But Dy-the 
Allen—” 

“Stop a minute, Catherine. Once for all, what 
is her ridiculous name? I have wanted to know 
for nearly a year and never think to ask.” 

Catherine laughed. “She was christened Edith, 
but when she was in High School she had a silly 
streak and wrote it with a ^y’ for the and an 
^e^ on the end, so her brother called her E-dy-the, 
the way it looks, you know, just to tease her, and 
it turned into Dy-the and sta3^ed that, though 
she signs herself Edith. She is one of the very 
dearest girls I ever knew, and how we shall get 
along without her next year at Dexter is more than 


60 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


I can guess. All the little preps adore her. But 
that was the very thing that made me Grossest 
about her carelessness. She would go out in the 
snow with little thin dancing slippers on and lace 
stockings, and then take a horrible cold and be ill 
for days, and shut herself up in her room and have 
everybody bringing her flowers and meals and 
writing her notes. And then all her little satellites 
did similar things and it made a lot of bother for 
everybody. Little Hilda went to see a measles 
child because she thought it was fine to be reckless 
the way Dy-thc is, and then she gave it to her 
roommate and two other girls. I got quite angry 
once and let Dy-the know just how it looked to 
me. I told her she ought to be ashamed to disobey 
Nature and be sent to bed for it, and she only laughed 
and quoted things from Stevenson about people 
who live on tepid milk and wear tin shoes. I 
told her Stevenson certainly tried to look out for 
his own health, for all that, but I couldn’t make 
her think it a serious matter at all. She just 
laughed. She’s such a dear, she doesn’t know how 
to be angry, Dy-the doesn’t,” and Catherine smiled, 
in spite of her own earnestness, at the visions the 
name brought to her mind. 

Here comes somebody else of the dear variety,” 
said Dr. Helen. Go and let Polly in.” 

She doesn’t need to be let in,” said that young 
person, appearing with the words. ^‘She let her 


A DAY OFF 


61 


own self in. I^m on an errand, Catriona darling. 
I want your mother's advice and yours. What 
do you think of a regular library opening, with 
refreshments and all that? And have people bring 
books for admission fees?" 

“Do sit down, Polly, and rest for a minute. 
You look as though you expected to be called to 
the telephone." 

Polly dropped, sighing, into a comfortable chair. 

“It does feel good to let down for a minute," 
she admitted. “I get so into the habit of tearing 
through space at college that I can't stop rushing 
for a month after I get home, and this library 
business has kept me jumping. I suppose the 
public could get on a day or two longer without it, 
seeing they have so many years. I worked all 
day yesterday with Algernon, and then in the 
evening it was too hot to stay in the house, and the 
mosquitoes were so thick outside that it was harder 
work trying to keep comfortable than anything 
I had done all day." 

“They are worse than ever this year," sighed 
Dr. Helen, “and, really, I think they are harder 
to bear when we all know that a little public- 
spirited co-operation would rid us of them. Can't 
you get the people who draw books at the new 
library to agree to sprinkle the breeding-places 
with oil?" 

Polly suddenly chuckled. “I beg your pardon. 


62 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


Dr. Helen, for being rude, but I just remembered 
a woman who addressed an open air meeting on 
the campus this spring. She was a missionary 
returned from somewhere and she appeared at one 
of the houses and wanted to talk, so we got a few 
girls together on the lawn to hear her. The mos- 
quitoes were simply unbearable. We all sat there 
slapping ourselves and making grabs at the air, 
and trying to look interested, and then she opened 
her Bible and read about being encompassed about 
with a cloud of witnesses: That was bad enough, 
when you could see them settling all about us like 
a great dotted veil, but nobody cracked a smile 
until she gave out the hymn. And that, if you 
please, was ^ My soul be on thy guard, ten thousand 
foes arise r You know how it goes.^^ And Polly 
sang: 

“ * Ne’er think the vict’ry won, 

Nor once at ease sit down, 

Thy arduous work will not be done 
Till thou obtain thy crown.’ ” 

“She might have asked for 'Christian, up and 
smite them,' " said Dr. Helen. “Now, children, I 
should like nothing better than to sit and hear college 
yarns all the morning, but I have an office hour to 
keep. Catherine, did you tell Inga to order peas for 
dinner?" 

“That reminds me," said Polly, springing up. 
“ Mamma wanted me to do some marketing before 


A DAY OFF 


63 


I came home, and I was forgetting it entirely. 
And I haven’t found out yet what you think of 
the opening!” 

should think it would be a good way to 
advertise it and get people interested. We ought 
to get a lot of books, too, though they wouldn’t 
all be worth much. Are you going to work to-day? 
I decided I’d have to take a day off.” 

don’t believe any one will go down. Win 
won’t, because Max has gone up to Madison to 
take a re in Trig and she won’t bother about 
anything when he’s not around. Dorcas said she’d 
see to the card-pockets at home — ^her Sunday-school 
class will do it, poor infants! And Bertha and 
Agnes have to help their mother because she’s 
going to have the Ladies’ Aid this afternoon. They 
are the best pair of workers I ever saw.’^ 

Aren’t they? Bess was fine about the curtains, 
too. She is so changeable, though, that I don’t 
know what to think of her.” 

^^Only a question of whether there’s a man 
body about, my dear,” said Polly oracularly. 
'^Many a girl is all right and sensible when there 
are just girls around, but let a lad heave in sight, 
and the whole situation is altered. I’ve known 
Bess since she came to Winsted in a ruffled white 
apron, and no one can teach me anything about 
her. Now, having dissected all my friends, I 
think I really must do my marketing.” 


64 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


We haven’t said anything about Dot, the dear,” 
said Catherine, following Polly to the door. 

^^Dot, the dear,” echoed Polly. ‘‘That’s all 
there is to say about her. Good-by, honey. To- 
morrow we’ll go at it for a grand finale. That was 
the name of the last piece in my first music book, 
and I always like to say it. It sounds so complete, 
someway. You don’t know, Catherine,” and Polly 
stopped on the last step to look up at her tall friend, 
“ how pleasant it makes things to have you in them. 
I’m just loving this library work, and so are the 
rest of us. Playing with you is like having one’s 
Sunday doll all the week, or as if the princess in 
the fairy stories had turned into a real mortal. 
Good-by this time for truly true!” 

Humming a Wellesley song, Polly was off down 
the walk at a brisk pace, and Catherine, who had 
answered her last words with a look more expressive 
than speech, stood watching her a minute, and then 
went happily back to her mending. 

The grocer’s boy, who arrived with the peas 
a little later, also brought the mail. He was de- 
voted to Inga and enjoyed doing gratuitous favors 
for the doctor’s family for her sake. Inga brought 
in two letters to Catherine, who joyfully dropped 
her darning and tore them open. 

“ Belovedest Goldilocks the first began, in Hannah 
Eldred’s writing, not much improved in the two 
years she and Catherine had been corresponding. 


A DAY OFF 


65 


are here at the shore for the summer, or 
that part of it which must pass before I come flying 
out to you with Frieda. Mamma and I are here 
all the time and Dad and Herr Karl come out for 
Sundays. 

People are so puzzled about Karl. I say 
over and over: ^No, not my tutor. No, not a 
cousin. Not even a ward of my father’s. Just a 
German boy we learned to know in Berlin, and now 
a student at Harvard. Yes, we met him quite 
simply. He lived in the apartment under us, and 
he had hurt his leg and couldn’t walk, and we used 
to entertain him. Frieda Lange and I did. It 
was at her house we were staying. His father is 
Herr Director Von Arndtheim, and they are very 
respectable!’ People at a summer resort, even a 
little one, are the curiousest in the world, 1 think! 

^^Who do you think is coming to spend a few 
days with us next week? Nice old Inez! I’m 
awfully glad she is coming, but honestly I do hope 
she has learned to put her clothes on straight and 
to keep her room tidy. She’s so good, and so 
faithful that I love her anyhow, but Mother does 
like neat guests dreadfully well! She would love 
-you for a guest, Catherine. But there! You 
always are just ex-actly right, without the tiniest 
drawback, — ^unless Dexter has changed you. Has it? 

^^I feel as though I were having my second 
childhood. It was so nice to be at college that 


66 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


term with the grown-up girls, and now I have 
to go with infants like little Hilda and Gertrude, 
only not so nice. I had first year Math in 
High School, you know, last year, and my Ger- 
man Prof regarded me as a babe and wouldn’t 
let me read things because I wasn’t old enough — 
things that weren’t suitable for children. Frieda’s 
mother has never let her read a love story, you 
know, and this man has the same idea! He talked 
to me, the stiff est conversation lessons you ever 
heard. It was like the dialogues in Ruskin. I 
wonder what he would think if he should hear 
Karl and me sometimes. We jabber it all the time, 
he and Mamma and I. Dad won’t let us when he’s 
around, so we talk English then, and that instructs 
Karl. He’s good except for his pronunciation. 
You should hear him do the Harvard yell! He 
rolls the ^r’s’ so far he almost loses them. They 
are even worse than you-ers, my western de-ar. 

“We are going to have a hop to-night, a really 
hop, and I am going. They can’t put me off with 
the children because I haven’t any nurse or gover- 
ness, and there aren’t any other girls between 
infants and real young ladies. The hop won’t 
be very big, because there are only a few families 
(it’s not a fashionable place, you know), but we’ll 
have a perfectly good time all the same. I am 
so pleased to be going as a Herrschaft, and I have 
a darling new frock for this and everything. It’s 


A DAY OFF 


67 


a soft rosy silk with tiny tight rosebuds all over it. 
And I have a little wreath of buds to wear in my 
hair. There are two or three awfully nice people 
coming over. One of Karhs classmates at Harvard, 
and two boys from the Tech and a nice curly- 
haired freshman from Dartmouth. And there is a 
Smith girl, perfectly charming, and a rather frumpy 
one from Wellesley who knows your Polly Osgood, 
or rather knows who she is. This girPs name is 
Violet, and I saw a letter addressed to her and 
her middle initial was E, and I asked if her name 
was Ethelyn, but she said it was Emma! 

wish you could see my little hop-gown. And 
the dear wreath. It makes me think of Ivy-Plant- 
ing Day at Dexter and the way the seniors sang 
^Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.^ WasnT 
Lilian the sweetest thing? She is studying in Boston 
this year, you know, and I saw her once. And 
werenT the little pig-tailed preps dear with their 
pink doves, I mean pink-ribboned doves? That 
was your pretty idea, my beautiful Catherine. 
I never could have thought of anything so lovely. 

“I'm almost at the bottom of the inkstand, and 
I haven't told you yet what I started to write 
about. But Mamma has written your mother, so 
it's all right. Frieda is to land the last of July, and 
I'm going to take her out to you as soon after that 
as your mother and mine think best. I think she 
will need a long time to get acquainted, don't you? 


68 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


I know you will love each other, but she must know 
you thoroughly before college opens. It is tantaliz- 
ing to think of you and her and Alice all being 
together. I do think I ought to be there, too, since 
I was the one who introduced you to each other. ! 
I’d like to keep Frieda with me next year, but 
every one seems to think the best place for her 
is right in the dormitory with the other girls, — and 
of course, it will be easier for her out there than in 
any of the big colleges nearer us. She is so obstinate 
she wouldn’t learn English if she were near any one 
who could talk anything she would recognize for 
German. What most of the girls at college talk 
for that, she wouldn’t know from Choctaw. 

^‘Lots of love to the dear doctors, and for j^our- 
self bushels and quarts and pecks. I had a card 
from Miss Lyndesay from the Isle of Wight yesterday. 

“Now I must shut, as Frieda said in her last 
letter! 

“Your loving Hannah.” 

Catherine gathered up the scattered pages of 
this voluminous letter and then opened the slender 
one which had accompanied it. This bore a far 
western postmark, and its neat little pages resembled 
copperplate. 

“ My Dear Roommate: 

“I’m waiting for a youth to whom I am to 


A DAY OFF 


69 


give a toot lesson. He is very stupid. I have him 
in Greek and English literature. In Greek he trans- 
lates the word for Lord, ^Cyrus.^ We have been 
reading the New Testament, and you can think 
how very oddly that would come in, in some pas- 
sages! And in an English test he assured me that 
Milton wrote Pilgrim! s Progress, and the author 
of Bacon’s Essays was Charles Lamb. He makes 
me wonder whether I shall have courage enough 
to tackle teaching as a profession, if tutoring is 
so difficult. But I like his money very well, and 
Mother is going away for a real vacation and will 
take Cora, and that couldn’t happen if I hadn’t 
found work this summer. 

have a Sunday-school class, too, and that is 
entertaining, at least. It is at a mission, and such 
queer dirty little chaps as are in it! 

I started in to teach them an alphabet of Chris- 
tian graces, or desirable qualities. The first week 
we had A for Attention, and the second, B for 
Bravery, and the third week I thought they all had 
the idea, and asked them to guess what C would 
be. They thought very hard, and then one piped 
out: ^Cabbages!’ The same little boy told me that 
the priests burned insects in the temple! 

“My whole letter seems to be nothing but my. 
pupils’ absurdities. But really I have very little 
else to write about that would interest any one. 
I’m busy all day, and too tired at night to read or 


70 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


write. I take more pleasure getting acquainted 
with my darling little brother Jack again, than 
in anything else I do. He has been Ariel now for a 
week, and it^s very convenient, for there are many 
errands to be done. He sleeps at night in a cow- 
slip bell, very romantically, but I have no hope 
the spell will last. He will be a robber chief or 
a street-car conductor next week. The poetry in 
his system is in streaks, not continuous. 0! that 
reminds me — and it^s the last ^bright saying^ I 
shall quote in this letter, I promise you ! He asked 
me rather shyly the other day what poetry was, 
and after I had attempted to explain, he said: 
^It^s queer, Allie. I thought it was chickens!^ 
^‘Here comes my pupil, looking very sad. I 
wish he didn't regard me as an old, old woman. 
I suppose I seem so to him, but I do hate to feel 
for two hours a day that I have lost all my youth. 

“When does Hannah come? And Frieda? I 
am all eagerness to see her. Did you carry my 
embroidered waist home with you by any chance? 
I can't find it, and I really need it. 

“ My love to your mother, always. 

“Faithfully yours, 

“Alice Barbara." 


CHAPTER SIX 


THE OPENING 

The opening of the library had been vigorously 
advertised. Bert and Dot had wheeled the country 
roads over within a radius of three miles from town, 
posting bills of announcement. The ministers 
urged it upon their congregations as a civic duty 
to attend. At social gatherings the week before 
nothing else was talked of. And everybody was 
going to bring books. 

'^Such a lot of trash as we’ll get!” groaned Dorcas. 

“I know it,” assented Polly, “but they will 
all take an interest, and that is what we are after 
now. Once properly established, we can buy 
good books, and these old ones will just stand idle 
or wear out or get lost or something.” 

“I don’t think it’s very appropriate to serve 
refreshments,” objected Dorcas once more. “And 
Algernon doesn’t think it is a dignified way to 
, do.” 

“ 0, well,” put in Catherine, appeasingly. “ Mrs. 
Graham says, you know, that we’ll ^have to get 
people pretty well educated readin’ our encyclo- 


72 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


pedias and dictionaries before theydl think any- 
thing's worth goin' to that there ain't somethin' 
to eat at!' And Mrs. Graham is going to take 
charge of all that part, anyhow, so I don't feel like 
finding fault. There won't be any expense, with 
everything contributed." 

^^They might have given the money instead of 
ice-cream and cakes." 

“0, Dorcas, Dorcas, you would expect people 
to be all made over. Did you ever read Stevenson's 
fable of the reformer who thought the first step 
in reforming the world was to abolish mankind? 
Let's not worry about it. I know it's going to be 
a success. Isn't this room the cleanest spot you 
ever saw?" And Catherine threw back her arms 
with a gesture to rest her tired shoulders, and looked 
about her with affection and pride. Bare white 
walls, with one good engraving, loaned by Judge 
Arthur, for ornament; plain shelves with rows of 
neat books, their orderly labels smiling like sets 
of teeth; the reading-table in the exact center of 
the room, with three chairs in military array on 
each side of it, and a few contributed magazines 
in mathematical piles between two student lamps; 
and last, Algernon's small charging desk, with its 
mysterious cards and rubber stamps under one 
of the bracket lamps, shining from the polishing 
Agnes had just given it. 

Isn't it spick and span?" repeated Catherine, 


THE OPENING 


73 


sitting down with precision in the arm-chair, 
discovered in somebody’s attic. 

“Ye-es,” answered Dot slowly, dropping upon 
one of the arms. ^^But for all its cleanness it’s 
about as bare and as inviting as the contagious 
ward of a hospital, or the dining-room of a state’s 
prison.” 

“Don’t say discouraging things like that. Dot 
dear,” pleaded Agnes, taking the other arm and 
snuggling her head against Catherine’s cheek. 
“A library isn’t supposed to be a parlor, and that 
engraving is really valuable.” 

“ I’d rather have a chromo that comes with soap, 
myself,” said Bert. “Its cold steely look only 
adds to that hygienic and sanitary aspect Dot 
detected. It makes me homesick for sunflowers 
and red flannel.” 

“ I have an idea,” and Dorcas rose and departed 
with her usual abruptness. 

As she went out of the door, Bess came in. 

“0 dear!” she said. “Are you all here? I 
hoped nobody would be.” 

“Shall we withdraw?” asked Bert. “We were 
just commenting on the barrenness of this place, 
but your presence causes it to blossom as the 
rainbow. We bask in the refulgence.” 

Bess laughed. “That’s really what I came for, 
to prettify it a little. It seemed such a pity not 
to have anything bright and attractive on the walls. 


74 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


SO I made this at odd minutes. Do you all like 
it? I was going to put it up and surprise you.^^ 

She unrolled a big parcel she carried and the 
others, crowding around to see, looked upon a 
beautifully illuminated motto: 

God be thanked for books.'^ 

^^Bess, you are an inspired angel,’^ cried Polly, 
while Catherine gave her a squeeze which was meant 
to express pleasure and also compunction for more 
than one reflection that Bess was not doing her share 
for the library. 

^^And here comes another,’^ exclaimed Agnes, 
running to open the door for Dorcas, staggering 
under the weight of a great armful of golden glow. 

‘‘Dorcas, you must have taken every stalk you 
had!’^ 

“ Well, and whose business is it, I^d like to know?^’ 
asked Dorcas briskly and justly. Polly shrugged 
her shoulders, but helped Bertha to find receptacles 
for the bright flowers, continuing to exclaim over 
their beauty, in spite of Dorcas^ apparent indifference. 
It had not been Algernon alone who had been 
misunderstood at the beginning of the library 
campaign in Winsted. The flowers arranged ef- 
fectively, and the motto given a place where it 
could be read from all parts of the room, the work- 
ers trudged off to their respective homes to make 
elaborate toilets before the “ party should begin. 

Seven o^clock found the lamps lighted inside 


THE OPENING 


75 


the little building, and Japanese lanterns making 
the freshly-mown weed patch a festive place, with 
little tables set for the ice-cream and cake which 
were to be served from the shed, leaving the library 
proper, clean and crumbless. Bess and Winifred, 
with their attendant squires, were to act as Mrs. 
Graham's lieutenants outside, and the other mem- 
bers of the club were variously on duty within. 
Dr. Helen assisted Algernon and the school superin- 
tendent in receiving — an unsectarian combination 
warranted to disturb no prejudice. Bertha, with 
a book and pen, was ready at the reading-table 
to receive and register gifts. Catherine sat at Alger- 
non's desk to issue cards, and take in the annual 
fee of fifty cents. The other girls and boys were 
floating," ready to entertain the guests, to explain 
the whole scheme, and see to it that every one was 
invited to the lawn for “light refreshments and 
ice-cream" as the Courier had announced. 

The fathers and mothers of the Boat Club were 
early arrivals, looking with proud amused eyes upon 
their spotless sons and daughters in their dis- 
interested public zeal. First of all came Mrs. 
Swinburne in a long black net gown elaborately 
spangled, her hair coquettishly arranged in a 
Janice Meredith curl, several years out of date, 
a slender ivory-sticked fan, somewhat broken, 
swaying from her belt by a long ribbon. She 
plainly felt that her entrance should excite attention 


76 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


and was by no means disappointed. Dot and 
Polly took her in charge and stood by with grave 
courteous faces while she gave Bertha her con- 
tribution, wrapped up in tissue paper and white 
ribbon. 

“IPs a copy of The Ring and The Booh I got 
for Elsmere’s Christmas last year. I wanted so 
to read it. I am devoted to Byron. But Algernon 
gave me the Complete Works ^ so that I felt I could 
give this away to advantage. It is a little damaged. 
The dear child uses his books to build stables with, 
but I knew that the public would not mind.^^ 

She arched her eyebrows in surprise when Cath- 
erine asked fifty cents for the card she made out for 
her. “ As Algernon’s mother, really. Miss Catherine, 
I did not expect — ” and Catherine, catching Alger- 
non’s imploring glance from his position between 
the doctor and the superintendent, murmured an 
apology and gave the card. 

Then Mrs. Swinburne sank delicately into the 
arm-chair, and rested her eyes upon the scene 
before her. 

It was soon sufficiently animated. A whole 
family arrived at once, climbing out of a big farm 
wagon. Dot beckoned to Bert. 

“It’s that man we talked to out on the Ridge 
Road.” 

“Is this your liberry?” asked a mighty voice 
from the doorway. “Where’s the young fellow 



“ ‘ How much for vour tickets ? ’ ” 


Page 77 





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THE OPENING 


77 


that invited us to come in this evening? 0, it’s 
you, is it? I didn’t recognize you with those clothes 
on. Men folks didn’t wear white pants in my day. 
Well, Mother, come along in. I guess they won’t 
nobody bite you.” 

With this encouragement, a little washed-out 
looking woman slipped uncomfortably in, six chil- 
dren of various degrees of awkwardness stumbling 
after her, studiously avoiding the outstretched 
hands of the receiving committee. Dr. Helen 
stepped forward and took the woman’s hand. The 
wan face under the dusty black straw hat lighted 
with the smile that Catherine loved to see her 
mother call forth. 

Clary,” said the little woman proudly, “here’s 
the doctor. Let her see how fat and well you be. 
Not much like she was that winter!” 

Clary’s father, meanwhile, was walking about the 
room with a tread that rattled the lamp-shades. 
He looked the books over with an air of wisdom, 
listened to Bert’s talk in silence, and presently 
drew up at the desk where Catherine sat waiting 
for customers. 

“ How much for your tickets?” 

“ Fifty cents.” 

“ Family rates?” 

Catherine met the unforeseen question promptly. 

“Where there are more than three in a family, 
the tickets are only thirty-five cents apiece.” 


78 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


“ So. Well, give me one,” and he drew a handful 
of small change from his pocket. Holcombes 
the name. Chester G. Holcomb.” 

Catherine inscribed the name in her pretty even 
hand upon a blue card, numbered it 2, and handed 
it to her patron. He laid down thirty-five cents 
and turned away. 

^‘0,” said Catherine, flushing softly. “You 
didn’t understand. It is only when you get three 
cards that they are cheap like that.” 

Chester Holcomb, known as the biggest miser 
in the county, grunted. 

“You said if they was more than three in the 
family, and they’s six children besides ma and me. 
I knowed there was some skin game about this 
thing, somewheres. Here’s your ticket and you 
give me back my money.” 

Catherine, almost as near tears as she had ever 
been in her singularly well-controlled existence, 
obeyed him. 

“ Good evening, Chester.” Dr. Harlow had been 
standing near, and now decided to take a hand. 
“ Let me introduce my daughter. Catherine, this is 
Mr. Holcomb, of whom you’ve heard us speak.” 

“The father of the dear twin babies?” asked 
Catherine, with a grateful throb for her father’s 
help. 

“That’s them yonder,” answered Chester Hol- 
comb, swelling proudly. “Mate, bring the twins 


THE OPENING 


79 


here, so’t the doctor’s gal can see ’em. Weighed 
five pounds when they was born, and look at ’em 
now! Best fatted live stock on the farm, I say. 
Doctor.” And Mr. Holcomb’s great laugh at his 
own witticism filled the room. Catherine, mean- 
while, with the sincerity of a girl who really loves 
all babies, admired the plump twins to such a 
degree that their father felt himself melting with 
benevolence. 

“Mate,” he said suddenly, “think you’d like 
to read any of these here books? Doc, make you 
acquainted with ' my daughter Sadie. Graduated 
from the district school this spring and goin’ to 
town High School this fall. Guess the’ ain’t any 
of the readin’-matter here that’s beyond Sadie! 
Here, Miss, give us three of them tickets, — ^that one 
I had and two more. Mrs. Chester Holcomb and 
Miss Sadie Ditto. There! Keep the change,” and 
gathering up the three cards, he threw a silver 
dollar heavily upon the table and turned away. 
Catherine and her father looked at each other and 
laughed outright. 

“No man has ever got the best of Chester in a 
bargain,” said Dr. Harlow, “and I judge no woman 
ever will! Allow me to make up the deficit. It 
has been worth more than that as entertainment!” 

By this time the room was full. It was a motley 
crowd, as all classes of Winsted were represented. 
The would-be Smart Set in rather elaborate hats 


80 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIELS 


and gowns, mingled with the quieter Three R’s, 
and their own maid servants and the “gentlemen 
friends of the latter. All the standbys, who are 
always on hand at church doings and the County 
Fair, were out in force. There was the oldest in- 
habitant, bestowing his presence with the “nunc 
dimittis’^ air which had characterized him since 
old age had given him the distinction vainly sought 
in other fields. There was old Mis’ Tuttle in her 
best black and orange bonnet, and Emeline Winslow 
with her wig over one ear and a bouquet of artificial 
flowers under glass as her contribution. With her 
came Grandma Hopkins, whose name was the only 
nimble thing about her; — ponderous and elephan- 
tine, she had once, in calling upon a fragile little 
old lady, stumbled in the doorway and fallen upon 
her hostess, whose brittle bones had snapped under 
the strain. Polly and Dorcas constituted them- 
selves a committee to look out for the elderly ones, 
taking great pains to keep Grandma Hopkins in 
open spaces where a fall would do little damage. 
There was a very bony woman with a smile which 
was surprising, it was so soft and radiant. She 
brought a fat story of the Bible for the children, 
and offered Algernon flowers from her garden for 
all summer. “Flowers are good for the soul and 
the mind as well as books,” she explained, “and 
if so be some one comes in and can’t find the book 
they want, ’twon’t hurt ’em to see a posy.” 


THE OPENING 


81 


There was the Sloan family, decked out in the 
leavings of a milliner’s shop and bringing as offer- 
ing a worn copy of one of Mary J. Holmes’ novels. 
There was a good-hearted lady, so disastrously 
given to expressing enthusiasm by embracing any 
one within her reach that the heroes and heroines 
of the evening fought shy of her, and Tom made 
her well-known tendency an excuse for withdrawing 
altogether and going out to the fence behind the 
building where he could overlook the festive scene 
and smoke a cigar surreptitiously. Not least 
among those present” was the ubiquitous reporter 
for the Courier, biting his pencil and using abbrevia- 
tions in his notes with such freedom that the list 
of gifts, when finally published, contained such 
startling entries as: Eliza and her Germ Garden, 
and The Victorious Anthropology. 

I felt as though I were in a dream half the time,” 
sighed Polly, when the crowd had dwindled to 
“the immediate mourners” as Max put it, and these 
were sitting wearily at the messy little tables, 
dipping idle spoons into the melted cream that had 
been with difficulty saved for them. “I kept on 
smiling and explaining and telling people to go 
to Catherine for cards and to Bertha to leave their 
gifts, and half the time I didn’t know what I was 
saying or who was talking to me. Bert came up 
once and asked me to tell him which door he came 
in at, and I tried to find out for him, before I tumbled 


82 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


— ^before I saw the point, I mean. I never was so 
exhausted in all my life.^^ 

‘‘Poor Algernon,’^ said Tom. “You’re just be- 
ginning your work. Every one of those hundred 
and sixty-seven cards will be in to-morrow to draw 
out a book. You ought to keep open for a week 
every day.” 

“Three times a week, with evenings, will be 
enough,” replied A. Swinburne, librarian. “There’s 
a big job on those books that came in to-night. 
How many were there finally, Bertha?” 

“Ninety-six. About twenty are worth putting 
labels on,” answered Bertha cheerfully. “I’m a 
little inclined to think that that part of our plan 
was a mistake.” 

“I don’t believe it,” said Dot. “There was one 
old duck who brought a German primer, and he 
strutted around as though he owned the place. 
I’m sure he’ll use it constantly.” 

“He seemed to think he ought to have a card 
free, because he gave it,” put in Catherine. “I 
remember him! He wasn’t the only one, though. 
They all — or a lot of them — ^seemed to think they 
ought to be able to draw any number of books on 
one card, and they don’t like the idea of fines at all. 
I don’t envy you, Algernon!” 

“We ought to have called ourselves the Looking 
For Trouble Club,” groaned Archie. “ We haven’t 
had a decent Boat Club picnic since we got into 


THE OPENING 


83 


this mess. And look at all this place to clean up 
to-morrow! I^m about dead with work, already. 
I don’t know about the rest of you.” 

The rest had strength enough for a chorus of 
hoots and jeers at ^‘His Laziness,” who had adorned 
the scene of their labor for a few minutes now and 
then, but for the most part had stayed strictly 
away. 

“ I’ve saved your lives, anyway,” declared Archie 
cheerfully, when their derision had spent itself. 
^'And I’m going to again. I hired a lovely scrub- 
lady to come to-morrow and make this spot look 
shipshape — ” 

“0, Archie!” cried the girls, ^^you beautiful boy!” 

“ Don’t interrupt,” said the beautiful boy sternly. 
^^I am going to vindicate myself. Polly Osgood, 
didn’t that tennis game Friday morning save you 
from collapse? How about that little canoe jaunt 
on the quiet yesterday, Catherine? Bess needed 
a drive Thursday, and Winifred did more good to 
the public by singing to me all that hot evening 
than the rest of you did slaving away over some 
gooey job or other. Dorcas let me reward her 
Sunday-school kids by a hay-rack ride, and she 
went along to take care of us. Agnes and Bertha 
got interrupted on their way down here one morning, 
and let themselves be persuaded to take a country 
walk instead, to show me birds’ nests for a course 
I’m not ever going to take next year. And as for 


M 


THE WIDE AWAKE OIItLB 


Dot,— O, Dot was shamelessly ready to go off any 
old time with any old body. But you all would 
have been nervous wrecks by now without me. 
And you call me names, like an ungrateful populace 1’^ 

It was a mirth-provoking series of revelations. 

Archie has shown himself a most artistic sly-boots,^^ 
said Catherine. never had more delicious con- 
science pangs than I did on that canoe-ride.” 

^‘So it was with me,” declared Polly. “And I 
never dared say anything sarcastic about the other 
girls’ not turning up every time, because I felt 
so guilty myself.” 

“So did I!” cried Bertha and Agnes together. 

“Well, so didn’t I!” exclaimed Dot. “I was 
perfectly free to say all the time that I didn’t intend 
to spend my whole summer or even ten days of it 
working harder than I do winters. I move that 
Archie be given a vote of thanks for introducing 
the Rest Cure into the Boat Club, and also a vote 
of admiration for the beauty of his dissimulation.” 

“ I second the motion,” said Archie himself, 
“and amend it to include going home. Want any 
help in locking up, Al?” 

“No, thanks,” said Algernon, hearing for the 
first time a nickname that any fellow might have 
had applied to himself. “Good night, all of you. 
I’ll take good care of things, you can count on 
that.” 

As the rest drifted in pairs and threes toward 


THE OPENING 


85 


their homes, a well-content young man set the 
reading-chairs in their places, put out the low- 
burning lamps, turned the key in the lock, and 
walked briskly away, happier than he had ever 
been. 

Even so early, Catherine's inspiration had shown 
itself a true one. 


CHAPTER SEVEN 

A PARTY AT POLLY^S 

Where you goin^, Algy?’' 

Algernon, half-way down the walk, turned at 
these words, high and clear, floating down from 
upper regions. 

In the balcony on the second floor Elsmere, 
clad airily in white night-drawers, leaned pensively 
over the railing. 

^^To the party, you know. Go back to bed, 
Sonny. 

“But the party is to Peter and Perdita’s, over 
there, — ” with a gesture across the street. “Why 
do you be goin’ that way?^^ The fat little arm 
waved in an opposite direction. 

“I’m going to get Catherine. Do go in, now, 
Elsmere. I’ll tell you all about the party in the 
morning,” and Algernon hastened down the street, 
bouncing more than usual in his effort to get out 
of reach of that penetrating little voice. 

“Why,” it called after him, “why? Doesn’t 
Caffrine know the way to Peter and Perdita’s 
house? What you goin’ to get her forf^ 


A PARTY AT POLLY^S 87 

The neighbors on their porches smiled, and 
Algernon reddened as he rushed along. 

Elsmere, abandoned, still draped himself over 
the railing and watched his brother's rapid walk. 

''Springs!" he murmured at last, as though he 
had solved a knotty problem. "Algy walks like 
a spring seat!" 

Then with a lighted candle Elsmere proceeded 
to make some preparations for an evening of festivity. 
The party at the Osgoods' was so near that Peter 
had assured him the music for the porch dancing 
would reach him even more clearly in his balcony 
chamber than if he were a really invited guest and 
on the spot. Peter had further coached him in 
the method of preparing porches for dancing, and 
Elsmere had secreted a candle and matches early 
in the evening, waiting only till Algernon was 
safely away to apply them. His floor nicely waxed, 
he curled dowm in a corner of the balcony to 
watch the arriving guests, and unexpectedly fell 
asleep. 

" Walk on your heels, why don't you?" 

Algernon, escorting Catherine, made this sug- 
gestion as she picked her way across a narrow 
muddy crossing, her white party skirts gathered 
in one hand. Catherine, poising with difficulty 
on the toe of one foot, turned and looked at him. 

"It just muddies my heels, and then my heels 
muddy my skirts. Of course, you boys with 


88 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


trousers — then, toppling, she righted herself and 
leaped across the last puddle. 

^‘Trousers,” said Algernon, getting to her side 
again, “were worn in Abyssinia as early as — 

Catherine heaved a mighty sigh. 

“It’s like going out for a stroll with the Century 
Book of Facts to walk with you, Algernon Swin- 
burne,” she declared suddenly. “Do you think 
in statistics party-nights, even? Haven’t you 
any uninstructive thoughts for warm evenings?” 

Algernon regarded her silently. 

“Am I such a bore?” he asked quietly. 

Catherine caught her breath. She recalled swiftly 
her father’s having said: “If Algernon should once 
find out that he was a bore, it would probably 
cure him. He has a lot of sense.” And here he was 
finding it out, on her hands, just because she had, 
for once, made her groaning comment on his con- 
versation audibly instead of to herself! 

It was a serious moment. 

“Listen, Algernon,” she said, feeling for words. 
“I wasn’t very polite to say what I did, but I’m 
not going to take it back now. It’s really wonder- 
ful how you know so much, and people who use the 
libraiy are appreciating it. But you see, you’ve 
lived by. yourself all these years, accumulating 
information, and when you get among people you 
do have a little way of handing it out to them 
whether they want it or not. It’s as though Mr. 


A PARTY AT POLLY^S 


89 


Graham should take potatoes and onions to church 
and pass them around to the congregation! They 
might be very nice potatoes and onions! I know 
how it is, because until Hannah Eldred came and 
woke me up, I used to do nothing but read poetry 
and cook, and I know I quoted Shakespeare to the 
girls when they came to see me, and it made them 
nervous, so they didnT come often. Have you 
ever noticed how Polly does? She^s always in- 
terested in what every one says, and she always 
^ catches on.^ She doesnT try to run the conversa- 
tion, while Dorcas — 

Dorcas hits you over the head with a club, 
and then when you're stunned she sits down on 
you and talks to the others! Am I like her?" 

Catherine laughed outright. 

“That's very 'wink-ed' of you, Algernon, as 
Elsmere would say, but it truly does just about 
describe it. You never do that way yourself, but 
you do open up and read aloud, so to speak, in 
company sometimes, in a way that is disconcerting. 
Now, what could one say to a statement about 
Abyssinian trousers, for instance, when one is just 
peacefully walking along, going to a party?" 

Algernon straightened his shoulders. 

“Much obliged," he said briefly. “I've been 
doing a little observing on my own account lately, 
since I've been around with the rest of you so much, 
and what you tell me fits, all right. I guess I can 


90 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


cut out the information! I say, doesn’t the Osgood 
place look fine?” 

The great porch at the Osgoods’ palatial resi- 
dence,” as the Winsted Courier always faithfully 
referred to the house, was alight with square pink 
lanterns. A long strip of carpet ran out to the 
sidewalk, and as she stepped upon it, Catherine 
put her hair back with a quick gesture and smiled 
up at her tall companion. 

'‘I tell you, I’m proud to make my entrance by 
the side of the real Librarian of the Winsted City 
Library.” 

Leave your scarf here, Catriona darling,” said 
Polly, greeting her guests in the doorway. ‘^You 
don’t need to prink. Mother, Father, here are 
Catherine and Algernon.” 

Mrs. Osgood came fomard and took Catherine’s 
hand with ceremony. Then she turned to Algernon. 

“This is really an occasion. I am delighted, 
in my new capacity as Trustee, to salute the Founder 
and the Mainstay of our Library.” 

“0!” protested Catherine. “But isn’t it per- 
fectly lovely the way the council did take up with 
the idea? Was there any hitch at all about it?” 

“Not the least,” said Mr. Osgood. “You never 
saw anything smoother. You young folks certainly 
struck this town with this library scheme of yours 
at the psychological moment. The council was 
all for it. The tax was voted, and directors ap- 


A PARTY AT POLLY^S 


91 


pointed as though it had been talked up for years/^ 

^^And Bertha is a trustee/^ cried Catherine, 
seeing Bertha in . the group beyond. “ 0, Bertha 
dear, do use your influence to keep Algernon in 
officer^ 

Everybody laughed at that, and Mrs. Osgood 
threw up her hands. 

“We can’t help ourselves! No one can ever 
underbid him, except by paying for the privilege. 
Algernon won’t take a salary.” 

Algernon flushed uneasily. “I haven’t earned 
one yet,” he muttered. “And besides, salaries for 
public positions — ” 

Some choice fact was refused utterance there, 
for Algernon, seeing Catherine’s eye upon him, 
swallowed his harmless ^statistic’ and lapsed into 
silence. 

“Where are Bess and Archie?” fussed Polly. 
“Every one else is here, and we do want to begin 
dancing. I wonder what can have kept them.” 

“Here they are,” called some one. “Hurry up, 
you two. You’re the latest.” 

“ We’ve brought our excuse with us,” and Archie 
set down before Mrs. Osgood a bulky newspaper 
parcel. 'Bess, smiling mysteriously, refused to answer 
inquiries, and when the greetings were over Archie 
produced a knife and started to cut the string. 

“ Tell them the story first, Archie,” suggested Bess. 

“You think it would be more dramatic? Well, 


92 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


maybe so, maybe so. Ladies and Gentlemen: I 
have here a gift for the Winsted Public Library. 
It comes most appropriately on this evening, 
when the original supporters of that institution 
are celebrating their release from its responsibility! 
Miss Symonds,'' indicating Bess with a graceful 
curve of his thumb, “and myself were proceeding 
hither to j oin you. Our way led us past the spacious 
edifice dedicated now to the Cause of Learning and 
Recreation, having once been given over to hats, 
and later still, as many now present remember, 
to rats! The library is, as some of you are aware, 
not open on Wednesday evenings. Therefore we 
were surprised to see standing before the door in an 
attitude of patient expectancy, a rustic gentleman, 
bearing in his arm this identical parcel. We 
hesitated and then remarked courteously to the 
gentleman that there was small hope of his 
obtaining satisfaction at that particular portal 
before to-morrow afternoon. His face fell. Seeing 
which phenomenon. Miss Symonds,^^ again the 
thumb curve, “being of a kindly nature, offered 
sympathy to the disappointed reader. He opened 
his heart to us — and also his bundle. It seems 
he was not there to borrow books, but to bestow 
blessings. The article hereincontained was destined 
by his wife, its maker, to adorn the library's walls.” 

“He said,” interrupted Bess, “that he was sure 
we didn't have anything like it, because his wife 


A PARTY AT POLLY^S 


93 


invented it, and he didn’t know as there was another 
in the world, even. He seemed to think the 
library was a kind of museum and every one was 
sending things, and he and ^wife^ wanted to, too. 
He was a dear old man. So clean, and he wore a 
red shawl around his neck this hot night — ” Bess 
tossed her own bare head at the thought, and fanned 
her pretty white shoulders. “Do show it to them, 
Archie, and don’t make fun. He really thought 
we would think it was lovely, and it certainly is 
unusual.” 

“ Open it, open it!” 

Archie dropped to one knee, cut the string, and, 
removing one paper after another, lifted slowly 
a hoop bound in red wool, from which depended 
twenty fat little birds made of scraps of velvet. 

Silence and bewilderment. Then, “ What’s it 
for?” faltered some one. 

“ We must explain it,” said Bess laughing. “ They 
don’t understand. Neither did we, at first. It’s 
not for anything. It’s just an ornament, a beauti- 
ful parlor ornament. And you hang it from the 
chandelier and set it swinging. So I” She illustrated 
and the gay little birds bobbed merrily up and down. 

“They are hung on spiral wires of different 
lengths, you see, to make them more lifelike and 
natural.” 

Every one was full of delight and amusement 
now, and one hand after another poked the poor 


94 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


little birds till they bobbed to a degree dangerous 
to their shoe-button eyes. 

“ It’s a variation of the Japanese wind-bell 
motif/’ said Mrs. Osgood. ^‘But I shall wish I 
were not a trustee, if I must act on such problems 
as that.” 

Algernon took the hoop and put it back into its 
wrappings. 

^‘I’ll write and thank him,” he said, ^^and I 
don’t see any objection to it. The children will 
love it. I know Elsmere would.” 

^^We can keep it up for a while and not hurt 
his feelings,” said Bertha, and as Polly at the piano 
began to play a waltz, the boys chose partners and 
the porch filled with dancing couples. 

It proved, however, rather warm for dancing. 
Polly and Winifred took turns at the piano, but 
before long every one was willing to sit and rest. 

^‘Play that pretty last one again, Polly, and let 
us listen,” begged Bess. “It’s too warm to stir, 
but you play that so beautifully.” 

Polly obligingly seated herself at the piano once 
more in the broad open window. The light tripping 
music, unmarred by the sound of sliding feet, 
floated over the lawn and across the street and up 
into the Swinburne balcony. Suddenly the lazy 
group on the Osgood veranda caught sight of a 
flickering flame high in the neighboring house. 
Algernon started up, but Bertha restrained him. 


A PARTY AT POLLY's 


95 


Watch!’’ she said. It’s Elsmere. I saw him.” 

The candle was stuck upon the railing of the 
balcony. Then capering about, in little white 
night-drawers, to the sound of the music, Elsmere 
danced, bare-toed, upon his well-waxed floor, the 
unconscious observed of all observers. Applause 
long and hearty rewarded his efforts, and also 
brought Maggie to the rescue. - As she pounced 
upon him and knocked the sputtering candle to the 
ground, Peter and Perdita, splendid in starched 
white linen, appeared in the doorway behind ^Hhe 
party” and invited every one to come and draw 
bows and arrows. 

Peter held a quiver of arrows, tied with bright 
ribbons ^‘for the ladies.” His sister at his side 
offered “the gentlemen” a fine assortment of bows, 
with varicolored bow-strings. Bows and arrows 
mated, the hunters marched in pairs to the screened- 
in breakfast room, looking out over the river. 

At each end of the table was a chafing-dish, and 
in the center was a huge cabbage surmounted by 
two natural-looking bunnies. 

Each marksman tried his luck, and the cabbage 
was soon riddled, but it was reserved for Bert, 
with Dorcas’ arrow, to knock one rabbit over back- 
ward. Thereupon Bert and Dorcas were immedi- 
ately swathed in great aprons and installed behind 
the chafing-dishes to show their skill as cooks. 
Fortunately both were competent, and though 


96 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


much hampered by advice and witticisms, by 
the time Peter and Perdita had passed the rabbit 
salad, radishes and olives interspersed with arti- 
chokes and little china bunnies, the critical moment 
had passed, and creamy messes were ready to be 
ladled forth upon wafers, and consumed in eloquent 
silence. 

When, at last, there was nothing left but a few 
leathery strings, and even Archie declared his 
spirit alone was willing, Polly rapped on the table 
with the handle of a big spoon and called the meet- 
ing to order. 

^^Miss Smith has an announcement to make.^^ 

Everybody looked at Catherine. Her eyes were 
shining and her face was all aglow with pleasure. 

I’m going to have company and I want you all 
to know it, and come and get acquainted.” 

'^Who is it?” asked some one. 

‘‘The rest of the Wide Awake girls.” 

“What?” “All of them?” “All of you to- 
gether?” “Not the German one?” “Is Hannah 
Eldred coming?” 

The girls all talked together, and the boys looked 
mystified. 

“I wish some one would enlighten me,” said 
Max helplessly. “Who are the Wide Awake girls?” 

“Why, Max! Didn’t you ever take Wide- 
Awakef* 

“ The magazine? Sure thing. Wdiat of it? Does 


A PARTY AT POLLY^S 


97 


Catherine want us to subscribe? After an ivory 
manicure set or a lawn-mower premium 
“No, no. Listen, Max, and any of the rest of 
you who are so ignorant as not to know about the 
Wide Awake girls. Hannah Eldred advertised for 
friends once, and Catherine and a little girl in 
Germany and one out West answered. Ajid the 
German one proved to be the daughter of a long- 
lost friend of Hannah^s mother, and the one out 
West turned up at Dexter, rooming next door, 
when she went there, and now she rooms with 
Catherine. Did you ever hear such a tale in your 
life? If you were to read such a string of facts 
in a book, you wouldn^t believe it.’^ 

“No more you would,^^ commented Max. “I’m 
not at all sure I believe it, as it is. Are they all 
coming at once, Catherine?” 

“Not quite. Hannah and Frieda will be here 
in a week or two, and Alice as soon after as she can. 
They are all of them the dearest girls!” 

“ Pretty?” asked Archie. 

“Wait and see,” laughed Catherine. “They’ll 
make their own impression, but I want you all 
to be friends as we are.” 

“We’ll do our best to entertain them,” said 
Bert. “Distinguished foreigners don’t come our 
way every day. I move you. Madam President, 
that we make these Wide Awake young ladies 
honorary members of the Club.” 


98 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


The motion was put and carried with a round of 
applause, and a few minutes later the Boat Club 
meeting was informally adjourned. 

Algernon, reaching home at midnight, stole into 
his brother's room and hung the bird-hoop near 
his bedside. With characteristic perverseness Els- 
mere, a sound sleeper by day, was easily wakened 
at night, and, as Algernon slipped out of the room, 
he sat up and watched the birds bobbing in the 
moonlight. Presently he dropped back on his 
pillow, sleepily content. 

“Springs!" he said, “like Algy walks." 


PART TWO 

THE COMING OF FRIEDA 


4 


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) ) 
i ) ) 

) 


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CHAPTER EIGHT 


A FORTUNATE MEETING 

On the day of Polly party, far away in the 
village of Ventnor on the Isle of Wight, some one 
was thinking of the young people of Winsted and 
their library undertaking. 

A tall woman walked swiftly along the road 
toward Freshwater, enjoying its charming variety, 
the sudden glimpses of sea beyond the chalk cliffs, 
the quaint cottages and lanes, and at a certain 
bend the trees she loved better than all the rest, 
with ivy running over the ground and up the mighty 
trunks. There was a radiance about Clara Lyndesay 
which seemed to make whatever she looked upon 
more beautiful than it had been before. No one 
had ever been able to analyze it, to decide how 
much was due to the sunny hair, how much to the 
blue eyes, and the smile that suggested sweet 
wistful things that never could be told, and how 
much to her own deep inner peace. *^The beauty 
of you certainly helps the goodness make its im- 
pression,^' Dr. Helen said to her once, ^^and yet I 
am half inclined to believe that it is the goodness 
that makes the beauty!" 


102 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


Just now there was no analyst at hand, no one, 
in fact, but a stout small boy, driving a butcher’s 
cart. He felt the force of the charm, however 
uncritically, and grabbed his cap from his head 
as he drew up beside the lady. 

'^The landlady down there asked me to give you 
these here, thank you!” He handed out two 
letters, and then clucked to his horse in an embar- 
rassed fashion as Miss Lyndesay thanked him. 

^‘They came after you left, and she said you’d 
be wanting them, thank you!” And he drove on, 
leaving the source of his emotion quite unconscious 
of him or it, intent upon opening the first of the 
letters. 

'^They are too long to read as I walk,” she said, 
and chose a comfortable secluded spot to sit. “ Let 
me think. It was a year ago in March that I saw 
Hannah first, there at Three Gables, when she had 
just come back from Germany, and was homesick 
and missed her mother so. She did Catherine as 
much good as Catherine did her. They are a pair 
of charming children, as different as April and 
October. I think I will save Hannah’s letter for 
the last. It’s sure to be exciting, and Catherine’s 
should be read in a calm spirit.” Accordingly 
she opened Catherine’s and glancing with a smile 
over the tabulated statement of the health of the 
various members of the family, regularly included 
since her complaint that no such information 


A FORTUNATE MEETING 


103 


was ever granted her, began to read the letter 
proper: 

Dearest Aunt Clara: 

“ Algernon is away at a district meeting. 
I believe that is what he calls it. He is quite elated 
over the opportunity and Polly and I are taking 
charge of the library while he is gone. I hardly 
see Algernon any more. He is so busy all the time, 
and he is simply sought after. People seem to 
think he is an infallible authority, now that he is 
librarian, and he does seem to know everything. 
He reads everything and has an intelligent way 
of telling what you want to know. I'm quite 
impressed by him, myself. Of course, he talks 
technicalities a lot, and he acts grieved sometimes 
because the rest of us don't take the library quite 
so seriously as he does. The others are rather tired 
of it by now, except Polly and Bertha and Agnes. 
I really enjoy it, and I come in often nowadays, 
because I know when Hannah and Frieda get here, 
I won't have so much time for it. The children 
are fond of Algernon and he remembers the funny 
things they say and tells them — (it's the first time 
he ever had anything amusing to say on any sub- 
ject!) — ^Peter Osgood wanted The Wail of the 
Sandal Swag, and a little girl asked for Timothy 
Squst. (If that's how you spell it. It rhymed 
with ^ crust.') The children aren't the only funny 


104 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


ones. A man came in this afternoon and asked 
for Edith Breed, and it proved he wanted He That 
Eateth Bread With Me, and one forlorn-looking 
creature handed me a slip of paper with Doaii 
the Dark written on it, and she meant Joan of Arc! 

Later. I had to stop there to wait on a whole 
group. I don’t understand why they always come 
in hordes. They don’t seem to be connected at all, 
but there are always times when there is no one 
here and then suddenly an influx. 

Just now the room is empty again. I wish you 
could see it. It is a dear little room and now that 
it is being really used, doesn’t have that bare look 
it had at first. We fixed up a darling Children’s 
Corner, with some child pictures cut from a magazine 
and framed, and a little round table Polly used to 
have, and my own little rocker. The window is 
a sunny one, and the little curtains look so fresh 
and dainty. Almost always there is some child 
or other sitting there looking at pictures or reading. 

Later again. Dearest, dearest Aunt Clara! My 
eyes are all full of happy tears. I can’t write 
clearly. I came home from the library a little tired 
and quite willing to let Polly take it for the evening. 
And here on the porch was the box, the blessed 
box, addressed to me. Of course, I wasn’t too tired 
to open it! 0, you dear darling! We have needed 
color in that bare little place so much, and here 
is this beautiful glowing picture just full of story 


A FORTUNATE MEETING 


105 


suggestions. There never was a child born who 
could look at that, and not go dreaming off into all 
sorts of fairy tales. It makes me so happy to think 
you care enough about our little library to give 
your own beautiful work. I wanted to go right 
down and hang it, but I called Polly up on the 
’phone and she came over, and said I should keep 
it this evening to look at, and we’d hang it when 
Algernon comes back to-morrow. She is delighted, 
too, and Algernon will be, and he will send you a 
formal letter of thanks, but nobody can be so pleased 
as I am, because you are my almost-truly aunt, 
you know. 

^‘1 do hope you can feel the thanks I’m sending 
you across all that big salt water!” 

Clara Lyndesay’s own eyes misted a little. 

That little study isn’t deserving of such glowing 
words,” she said to herself. ‘^Now I must see 
what my other childie has to say. Their letters 
are growing more similar. Catherine’s association 
with other girls is giving her a more open manner, 
and Hannah is growing a bit more mature. Still, — ” 
her eyes fell upon the wild slant of the writing 
before her, ‘^1 suspect she never will be quite 
grown up, and this particular time she doesn’t 
show the maturity alarmingly! This letter looks 
as excited as the one she wrote from Dexter when 
she was upset about sororities last year.” 


106 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


Darling Lady Love of Mine* 

^‘Are you in Ventnor still? Shall you be there 
the 23d? I don’t know what I shall do, if you 
leave the Isle of Wight before the 27th. I wanted 
to cable, but father thought it was unnecessary and 
of course I couldn’t afford to do it on my own 
account. They charge terribly for cabling. And 
this letter may not reach you till you are gone, or 
they are. 0 dear! It just worries me to death to 
think about it. And there you are so near and I 
have wanted you and Frieda to meet so long. You 
may even be passing each other on the street or 
somewhere and not recognizing each other. Have 
you seen her? You’d surely know her, if you 
stopped to think, for Mother always said she looks 
like Mona Lisa and you’d notice Mona Lisa if you 
saw her. Even if she did have on a sailor suit 
too big for her, and a funny soup-bowl hat. Only 
perhaps she doesn’t wear such things now. It’s 
two years since I saw her, almost, that is, and I 
don’t know how she dresses. 

^‘Aunt Clara! I was just going to sign my name 
and read this over and I haven’t told you what I 
was writing for at all. You will think me a dread- 
ful rattlebrain! It’s just that we got a post card 
to-day from the Langes saying that they were on 
the Isle of Wight for several days, and I thought 
right away that you simply must meet them. 
It’s such a little island! They wrote from Ryde. 


A FORTUNATE MEETING 


107 


0, 1^11 enclose the postal. It will tell you all about 
where they are to be, and you will try your very 
hardest to see them, won’t you? You couldn’t 
help loving them, every one, dear Frau Marie and 
the funny Herr Professor. And nothing is far 
in England. 

Your loving loving Hannah.’' 

P. S. I wrote Frieda to look for you.” 

The blue eyes were full of laughter this time. 

“ Rattlebrain ! I should say so. And of course, — 
yes, she did forget to enclose the postal. It’s a 
wonder she didn’t cable. Now here am I, exhorted 
to meet three German people of whom I know 
these facts: Professor Lange of Berlin, the Frau 
Professor and their daughter Frieda, who looks 
like Mona Lisa and — ^perhaps— wears sailor suits 
too large for her and a funny soup-bowl hat. Were 
in Ryde some time ago, and, I judge, expected 
to be on the Isle until the 27th. To-day is the 26th. 
Well, I’m afraid, Hannah dear, you’ll have to 
learn to keep your head a little better, when you 
wish to carry out your pleasant ideas. I wonder 
what she wrote to Frieda.” 

She rose from her seat on the ivy-covered grass, 
and strolled leisurely back toward her hotel. The 
afternoon light was low and the little church she 
passed on her way seemed more than usually quaint 


108 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIKLS 


and inviting. Halfway by, she turned irresolutely, 
then entered the churchyard. 

A local guide was showing a party of tourists 
about. 

Miss Lyndesay was turning away to avoid them, 
when a deep “Ac/i, so!” followed by a feminine 

Wunderhuhsch! Ganz malerisch!” fell on her ear. 
She looked more closely at the little group. A 
gentleman in a long linen duster, with a loosely 
rolled umbrella under his arm, was gazing at the 
church most earnestly. He stepped back to get 
a better view, and colliding with a mossy headstone, 
turned and bowed to it politely with an apology. 
The little woman at his side paid no attention to 
him or to the guide, but followed with her eyes 
a plump young girl in a sailor-suit, who was stooping 
to gather flowers. 

Frieda,^' she called, ‘‘pluck not those blossoms!” 

Miss Lyndesay approached the young girl. 
Mona Lisa’s inscrutable eyes and elusive smile 
looked up from below an impossible hat. 

“I was looking for you, Frieda,” said Miss Lynde- 
say. “But Hannah said you were in Ryde.” 

“ Yesterday, gracious lady,” said Frieda, ducking 
in a courtesy, “but to-day, no. We have sought 
you, too, and vainly. Vater, Mutterchen, behold 
Hannah’s beloved lady. We have found ourselves 
at last!” 


CHAPTER NINE 


LANDING 

^^0 dear! It seems as though I couldnT wait 
a minute longer. It takes such an eternity for 
them to get in. Do you think you can see her, 
Karl? Take the glasses and look. See if you don’t 
think that little red speck in the bow is her?” 

“After the verb ^to be’ — ” 

“0, bother, Karl! You are fussier about my 
English than my German.” 

The tall fair young man smiled, but answered 
stubbornly: “It’s a fact, Hannah, you are more 
careless about English than about German. Not 
in grammar only, but in pronunciation. How is 
a poor foreigner to guess that ^sumpn’ for instance 
means ^something’?” 

“If it didn’t mean anything, I wouldn’t say it,” 
retorted Hannah saucily. “ Is there any other 
criticism you have to make upon my use of my 
native tongue, Mr. Germany?” 

“You drop your finaDg’ occasionally, and always 
your final ^r’,” went on the accuser. 

Hannah laughed, “You can^t hear an ^r’ unless 


110 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


it’s rolled over the tongue like macaroni, Karl 
Von Arndtheim ! Just wait till you hear the western 
girls talk, and you’ll be satisfied. Look! Look! 
It’s as much as an inch nearer. Give me the glasses 
again. I do believe that’s Frieda. No, not the 
red one, but the blue one with the veil floating. 
Can you see?” 

Karl pushed his way through the crowd, drawing 
Hannah safely along into a little open space at one 
side. Stationing himself against a pile of boxes, 
he helped her climb to the top and support herself 
by clinging to his shoulder. 

“There, child, you can sit and watch, and she’ll 
see you better than if you were mixed up in the 
crowd. Put up that sunshade and wave it. She 
will think you are a great blue bird ready to fly 
out and meet her.” 

“I wish I were a gull. I’d fly right to her dear 
shoulder and peck her cheek. But are you sure 
I’m not too heavy, Karl? This thing is wobbly 
and I lean on you awfully for such a fat lady as 
I am.” 

“I can endure it! I say, Hannah, now she is 
so nearly here, I’m beginning to get excited myself. 
Die niedliche Kleine! It doesn’t seem two years 
ago that you youngsters used to send cakes and 
things down to my window from yours. You were 
a pair of ministering angels.” 

“Wasn’t it fun? Poor Karl! I did pity you so^ 


LANDING 


111 


cooped up in the house that way. And you played 
the violin like an angel yourself, like a grieving one.^^ 
^^Well, weVe all given up the angel hypothesis 
by this time, though it was useful in getting us 
interested in each other. There! This time I 
see her, not in red nor in blue, but in brown. See! 
She is jumping up and down and waving to us.’^ 

The moments that followed while the great 
vessel swung heavily into place alongside the pier, 
and the ropes were made fast, and the gangplank 
was flung across, seemed interminable to impatient 
Hannah. Frieda was almost the first to land, and 
as she stepped on shore, she found herself lifted 
in a mighty hug, which she returned with all the 
strength of two muscular arms, gasping little cries 
of Achj meine Hannah!” as she did so. 

When the embracing stopped for a moment, 
Karl stepped forward, hat in hand, to greet Frieda 
in his turn. She seized his hand and wrung it, 
repeating: Ach, my heart could burst for gladness. 
My dears! My dears! But where is Miss Lynde- 
say?’' 

^^Miss Lyndesay?’^ cried Hannah, looking wildly 
about. “Not my Miss Lyndesay?” But as she 
spoke, some one bent down and kissed her mouth, 
rounded with amazement. 

“ Yes, your Miss Lyndesay, and Frieda^s guardian 
for the present. We must get out of the crowd a 
little, Hannah, and then we can tell you all about 


112 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


it. Is this Mr. Von Arndtheim? I think I shall 
have to introduce myself. Will you find the way 
to our trunks, please? I had the hand luggage 
taken off at once. It's fortunate we both belong 
in L." 

Somehow the little group made its way inside 
the great roofed-over place where the customs 
inspectors were doing their disagreeable duty to 
trunks and suitcases. Under a great black “L" 
Karl soon had Miss Lyndesay's and Frieda's trunks 
opened and passed upon, while Hannah struggled 
to collect her wits, and control her unspeakable 
rapture. Frieda was intent upon seeing that no 
harm was done her belongings, which were piled 
up about her, umbrella, hand-bags, a carryall, 
a shawl-strap, a brown linen roll with Gute Reise 
embroidered on it, and a long trunk with rounded 
edges. She resented the inspector's opening any- 
thing, but Miss Lyndesay and Karl ignored her 
protest and at last the ordeal was over, and all 
four were seated in a carriage, driving to the club 
where they were to lunch with Miss Lyndesay. 

Frieda! Frieda! Put your head back in here!" 
said the harassed guardian of that head, in a tone 
of mingled amusement and weariness. “If you 
get her safely to Mrs. Eldred to-night, Mr. Von 
Arndtheim, you will do well. Frieda has escaped 
various sorts of peril on the voyage, rather by 
miraculous intervention than by any skill of mine 


N 



‘‘‘Sure I am not too heavy, Karl?’” — Page 112. 


- 






LANDING 


113 


as chaperon. Tell me, Hannah dear, how are 
your family?’^ 

Hannah had been sitting very quietly beside her 
beloved lady, too dazed yet to realize her un- 
expected good fortune. She squeezed the gloved 
hand hard now and answered mechanically, her 
eyes telling the feelings that were surging within 
her. 

^^That is good. We left Frieda^s parents well, 
too, and quite content after some excitement. 
You see, they had made plans for Frieda to come 
with an English friend of theirs, who was obliged 
only a few days before sailing-time to change her 
plans. Then the Professor thought he might 
send Frieda in the captain^s care, but that dis- 
tressed Frau Lange, and they were on the point 
of giving it up altogether when they happened to 
tell me about it. I had been intending to come 
over soon, anyhow, and could easily arrange to 
take their friend’s pjace, and did so gladly. It 
was a much more interesting passage than I have 
usually known!” 

Miss Lyndesay smiled at Frieda and Frieda 
smiled in return, but had almost immediately to 
be drawn forcibly into the carriage by Karl. 

You can see enough of America without putting 
your head out,” he suggested. It is an interesting 
country, but not worth so much effort, I assure 
you.” 


114 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


They were driving down Commonwealth Avenue 
by this time, and even Frieda’s Berlin had never 
shown her a pleasanter and more decorous street. 
Karl thought, as she leaned forward, that she was 
trying to get a better view of the trumpeting angels 
on the spire of the church they were passing, but 
he was destined to be undeceived. 

I care nothing for America,” said Frieda scorn- 
fully. ‘‘But I do not trust that man. I cannot 
see all my Handgejpdck, only the ends of two bags. 
Let us stop him and count them!” 

“Americans don’t steal!” said Hannah hotly. 

“Neither do Germans!” cried Frieda, and Karl 
looked at the two with consternation. 

“See here. Kinder,” he put in. “This is a little 
too much like old times. You are two years older 
now, and shouldn’t be so belligerent.” 

“ Bell-i-gerent?” Frieda fumbled in her coat 
pocket and brought out a little red book. “I do 
not know that word. I will seek him.” 

“0, dear,” moaned Hannah. “Are you going 
around seeking words in a dictionary all the time, 
Frieda? I’ll put a stop to that, you’d better 
believe.” 

Miss Lyndesay watched the little scene in silence. 
On the way across the ocean she had wondered more 
than once what effect Frieda’s decidedly young 
and aggressive nature would have on Hannah, whom 
she knew to be easily affected by her companions. 


LANDING 


115 


'^Catherine will have her hands full, keeping 
them soothed,’^ she thought now, and was glad 
when the carriage stopped before the familiar 
house with the mail-box between the posts, and 
Karl helped her out. 

*^B-e-l-l-i-g-e-r-e-n-t!’^ spelled Frieda trium- 
phantly, stumbling out of the carriage, ‘‘ ^Inclined 
to fight; war-like; pug-na-cious — ’ Ah!'^ 

Her eyes fell upon the Handgepdck. EinSj 
zwei, dreij vier, funf, — wo dennf So! funf, seeks. 
Es Sind alle hierr 

There said Hannah. ‘T told you the man 
wouldnT steal 

Frieda opened her lips to answer, but Karl 
caught up all the luggage he could carry and led 
the way to the steps where Miss Lyndesay was 
waiting, and the two girls followed him, forget- 
ting national disputes in common interest in their 
surroundings, as they had done more than once 
before. 

At luncheon in the pretty club dining-room, 
Frieda ate industriously and silently, as Hannah 
remembered seeing her do of old. Hannah herself 
did justice to the good dishes, though she could 
hardly take her eyes from Miss Lyndesay ^s beautiful 
face, and could think of nothing whatever to say 
on any subject. Karl and his hostess chatted 
pleasantly and liked each other warmly. After 
luncheon, Karl went out to send cablegrams, and 


116 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


Miss Lyndesay took the girls up to the attractive 
white and green room which had been assigned 
to her. 

“Can^t you come out home with us?’^ asked 
Hannah wistfully. “I know Mamma would love 
to have you. She couldn’t come in to meet the 
boat, because we’ve been at the shore until two 
days ago, and she was getting the house open; and 
Dad was too busy, so they sent me down with Karl. 
But I know if they were here, they would beg you 
to come. Can’t you, please?” 

Miss Lyndesay took Hannah into her arms and 
kissed the warm red cheeks. As she did so, she 
saw a queer little look of annoyance cross Frieda’s 
face, and she put out her arm and drew Frieda 
close, too. 

^^I’d like nothing better than to be with both of 
you for days and days. Think how I shall miss 
my little roommate! But I must stay in town a 
day or two to do some necessary shopping. You 
know, I am going to spend the rest of the summer 
in Brookmeadow, a beautiful little village, not far 
from your home, Hannah. I’m going to fit up a 
studio there, out of an old house I own. And 
listen, both of you! Before Frieda goes out West, 
you two are to come over and spend a day and night 
with me in my home there. Shall you like that?” 

The sunshine on their faces answered her, but 
Hannah’s grew wistful again. 


LANDING 


117 


“ You are going to be so near my home all summer, 
and I'm going away, myself." 

^^But you are going to Winsted and Catherine. 
Don't forget that. And I shall be at Brookmeadow 
still when you come home. Hannah, Hannah, 
haven't you learned yet that one can't have every- 
thing that is delightful all at once?" 

“ I suppose you mean about sorrows making you 
appreciate blessings and so on," pouted Hannah. 
“ But I don't believe it. I know I could be happy 
all the time, if I could have all the things i want 
just when I want them!" 

Miss Lyndesay did not smile. Perhaps you 
could!" she said slowly. ^^You will never have a 
chance to prove it. It's not within the limits of 
possibility. But I had an idea, Hannah, that you 
were one of the people who could manage pretty 
well to be happy with things as they came." 

Hannah flushed and buried her face on Miss 
Lyndesay's shoulder. Frieda looked restless. 

Bitte, sprechen Sie mol Deutsch/^ she said sud- 
denly. Es tut mir furchthar weh, immer Englisch 
zu horenf^ 

Quick as a flash Hannah's head came up, and she 
laughed a delicious laugh. '^Poor Frieda," she 
said in German, “does it hurt you awfully to hear 
English all the time? There! There! I know 
how you feel. Did you talk German to her com- 
ing over. Miss Lyndesay?" 


118 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


Miss Lyndesay looked guilty. “I’m afraid I 
did. You see, it was such a fine opportunity for 
me to practise, and I didn’t want her to be home- 
sick, as well as — ” 

“I was not seasick,” declared Frieda stoutly, 
and both the others laughed. 

“I have crossed the seas full many times,” said 
Clara Lyndesay smiling, “but never have I known 
any one who was seasick! But to change the 
subject, it’s almost time for Karl to be back to 
take you to the train, children; and Frieda has 
a spot on her coat which I can remove if you will 
open my suitcase, Hannah, and bring me the little 
bottle of benzine in the left-hand corner. Mrs. 
Eldred must not think I have brought her an untidy 
little Mddchenr 

They spent a cozy half hour chatting in German 
or English, as the spirit or their respective inabilities 
moved them, and when Karl arrived to escort them 
to the station, they were in a blithe mood, which 
even the ordeal of parting from Miss Lyndesay 
did not shake. 

“You are coming very soon to visit me,” she said, 
as she kissed them good-by, “and you are both to 
be good until then, and not belligerent. Remember 
you are children no longer.” 

“Aren’t you a child any longer, Frieda?” asked 
Hannah with interest, as they entered the car- 
riage. 


LANDING 


119 


'^Indeed, I am not. Did you not see that I 
make no more Knixesf” 

That^s so. Isn’t it fun not to? Don’t you ever 
forget?” 

Only once. When I met Miss Lyndesay in the 
churchyard,” said Frieda, dwelling on the memory. 

“No wonder!” said Karl. “I would salaam 
before her, myself.” 

“So would I!” agreed Hannah. “But Frieda, 
then, if you are no longer a child, at last you have a 
will?” 

Frieda nodded her head emphatically. 

“ Now,” she said, “ I have a will.” 

And Karl, looking into her sturdy face, into the 
eyes which he had sometimes seen dancing with 
mischief, sometimes flashing anger, and sometimes 
brimming with sorrow, murmured a prayer under 
his breath, for gracious guidance for that new- 
claimed “ will.” 


CHAPTER TEN 


THE MAKING OF A COMPACT 

At the end of the short railway journey, Mr. 
Eldred met the girls and conducted them to the 
house where Mrs. Eldred waited with a heart- 
warming welcome for her little guest. 

It was a pretty home and Frieda felt the charm 
of it instantly as she went up stairs with Hannah 
to the little square room which she was to occupy. 
At the same time, however, she felt strange and out 
of place. She was conscious of a contrast between 
her own hat and Hannah’s, between her heavy wool 
dress and Hannah’s blue linen suit, between her 
strong, serviceable — and ugly — shoes, and Hannah’s 
pumps, also strong and serviceable, but far from 
ugly. The six pieces of handluggage and the queer 
steamer trunk, when deposited in the center of 
the little room, with its crisp ruffled curtains, and 
its plain mahogany furniture, disturbed the harmony 
that had reigned before from the etching over the 
bed to the bowl of ferns on the table. Hannah 
was friendly and beaming, and not at all belligerent. 
Mrs. Eldred was all sweet, cheery thoughtfulness. 


THE MAKING OF A COMPACT 


121 


but Frieda looking at herself in the oval mirror 
of the dressing-table, felt a sudden throb of pity 
for the girl she saw there. 

Hannah helped her remove her thick jacket, 
tucked it and her hat away in the closet, piled up 
the bags and asked for the trunk key. 

“Mutter hat uns immer gesagt, alles an seinen 
Ort zu legen/’ she said in a kind of chant. Frieda 
looked up, her eyes brightening with fun. 

Mother always told us to gargle every morning 
and use plenty of tooth-powder,^^ she said, and 
Hannah shrieked with glee. 

“0, have you been learning English out of that 
ridiculous Edith and Mary book, too? I hoped you 
would have it, and we can do beautiful dialogues 
in German and English. IVe always wanted to, 
but I never knew any one who could do the responses. 
I’ll be Edith and you can be Mary.” 

Mrs. Eldred came in as Hannah flung the lid of 
the trunk back. Frieda’s fun died away as she 
reached into a little pocket and took out a letter. 

^^It’s for you, Xante Edith,” she said, holding 
it as though she loved it. It’s from my mother — ” 
and the tears came into her eyes as she said the word. 
Mrs. Eldred and Hannah exchanged glances of 
understanding, and Hannah caught up the water 
pitcher. 

^^I’ll get this full of warm water for you,” she 
said briskly, '^and you must hurry and get ready 


124 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


I 


schmerz can frequently be cured by a becoming frock, 
or brought on by an ill-fitting one,^^ she meditated, 
as she fastened the pink and lace for Frieda. 

Downstairs Hannah was busily setting forth 
upon a round table an appetizing array of cakes 
and cookies with a copper pot of coffee. Mr. 
Eldred had arranged to be present at this unwonted 
function, and Hannah chattered to him as she 
worked. 

Be sure you shake hands with her often. Daddy 
dear,^' she admonished him. ^‘She is used to so 
very many hand-shakings a day, you know, and we 
mustn^t cut her down to none at all, the very first j 
thing. It^s little matters like that that make you I 
homesick. And homesickness is agony. Father. I 
I know, for IVe been through it.^^ 

Mr. Eldred pinched the plump cheek which 
showed no trace of past anguish, and Hannah 
seated herself upon his knee, being watchful of the i 
pleats of her skirt as she did so! 

“There’s one good thing,” she philosophized. 
“She can’t miss her father as I should miss you, 
for he is so absent-minded that he really doesn’t 
know her from the furniture. For all she is such < 
a mischief inside, she acts so quiet-like and well- ; 
behaved around the house that she might almost I 
as well be a sofa and done with it. And they have 
plenty of sofas, so he won’t miss her and she won’t j 
miss him so very much, either,” ; 


THE IMAKING OF A COMPACT 


125 


^'You imply that if you were better behaved, 
you would not miss me so much when we are separ- 
ated! It’s sufficiently complicated. I suppose you 
pine for my fearful reprimands?” 

That was such a delightful joke that they both 
laughed aloud and Mrs. Eldred and Frieda were 
quite in the room before they realized it, and 
sprang up to greet them with cordiality, if not with 
the ceremony Hannah had planned for. 

Those first days Frieda lived in a busy whirl. 
Hannah, once at home, and recovered from the 
excitement of the day in Boston, was ashamed of 
her conduct on that occasion, and tried to make 
up for it by all sorts of thoughtful attentions to 
Frieda, which, with the shade of formality they 
involved, added a little to the loneliness they were 
meant to combat. Mrs. Eldred, giving up, or 
suspending for a time, the apparently hopeless 
task of winning Frieda’s confidence, attended to 
her wardrobe with a rapidity and fervor which 
astonished Frieda, accustomed to long deliberations 
on such matters, and no reckless buying. Even 
the pretty frocks and hats and shoes did not please 
her. She felt loyalty demanded that she should 
wear the things she had brought from home, and 
it was not till Mrs. Eldred had given her her mother’s 
letter to read that she consented to lay aside the 
German garments. Mr. Eldred took her about the 
city, and thoroughly enjoyed her comments on 


126 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


things American, a scorn thinly veiled by polite 
phrases, or by an expressive silence. 

She was silent most of the time, for the language 
was her greatest obstacle. She remembered vividly 
the superior feeling she had had in Berlin, when 
she had watched Mr. Eldred wrestle with a condi- 
tional or had heard Mrs. Eldred struggle to pro- 
nounce ^^ch.^’ It was not nearly so pleasant to 
be struggling one's self, with a quite senseless “ th," 
for instance. Her heart filled with rage when she 
caught Hannah listening intently to her carefully 
enunciated words, and then saying suddenly with 
relief, “0!" as their meaning dawned upon her. 
Frieda had been at the head of her class in English. 

It's really because you pronounce so very 
well," Hannah explained apologetically, on one of 
these occasions. “You are so much more exact 
than we ever think of being, that it gives an un- 
familiar sound to words. And besides, yours is 
English English and ours is United States." 

“But English English must be best," protested 
Frieda, and Hannah forgot Miss Lyndesay's warn- 
ing and “flared up" for a minute, but immediately 
recollected herself, and ordered an ice-cream soda 
as a peace-offering, notwithstanding the fact that 
Frieda found the taste disagreeable. 

“You'll like it, when you are used to it," she said 
comfortingly. “You don't have them at home, 
you know." 


THE MAKING OF A COMPACT 


127 


growled Frieda, choking on a spoonful. 
^^And I’m glad we don’t. Sundaes aren’t so bad, 
but the name is foolish! I do not wonder Miss 
Lyndesay lives most of the time in Europe!” 

The fifth day matters came to a climax. Karl 
had come over from Cambridge to spend Sunday. 
Hannah and he seemed to be on the best of terms. 
They talked English faster than Frieda could 
understand, and they seemed to have an endless 
stock of jokes that had no meaning for her. Sud- 
denly, after sitting with a brow like a thunder- 
cloud for a while, listening to them and declining 
to join in the fun, she started up and ran up stairs 
with a swift pounding gait that recalled to Hannah 
the way she used to tear madly off to school in the 
morning, fearful of being late. 

Karl and Hannah, left behind, looked solemnly 
at each other. Karl whistled. 

^^Die Kleine is irritated about something,” he 
remarked. 

don’t wonder,” said Hannah sympathizingly. 
always remember when it’s too late to do any 
differently. She felt left out, I suppose, and you 
know you do use a terrible amount of slang, nowa- 
days. I’m awfully ashamed of us, Karl!” 

Karl pondered a moment. Then he said: ^^I’ll 
fix it up all right. Here, you take this note up 
to Frieda. Just shove it under the door, if she 
won’t let you in.” 


128 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


He wi’ote a few lines on a card and gave it to 
Hannah, who promptly ran away up stairs with 
it. Then Karl went into the study and telephoned 
a garage. 

In a few minutes, Frieda, shy and somewhat 
red-eyed, came down stairs. Hannah was nowhere 
to be seen, and Mrs. Eldred was out for the after- 
noon. At the door was a snorting automobile, 
with seats for just two. 

I knew Hannah would forgive us if we ran away 
by our two selves,'^ said Karl in German, meeting 
Frieda in the hall, and conducting her out to the 
machine. “She knows enough about being in a 
foreign country to understand that sometimes you 
want to be with your very own people. There! 
Idl have this thing running like a charm in about 
a minute. Sure youTe not afraid to go out alone 
with me? I’ve learned a good deal about this kind 
of thing lately. It’s one of the courses I’m taking 
at Harvard. Here we go!” And there they went, 
speeding down the street at a rate that made a 
policeman, half asleep on the corner, look about 
him with a start. Frieda’s eyes shone, and she 
began to feel better. 

Karl had evidently acquitted himself well in his 
course in motoring. He drove skilfully and easily, 
and they were soon outside the city in a pleasant 
country road. Almost any place would have 
seemed pleasant to Frieda just then, though, for 


THE MAKING OF A COMPACT 129 

Karl was talking cheerily, merrily, talking in Ger- 
man, talking of topics she knew about, and talking 
exclusively to her. She discovered that the day 
was much more of a day than she had thought. 
There was a quality in the air she had not noticed 
earlier in the afternoon. Presently she even became 
confidential. Karl, with eyes and hands busy, 
guiding the machine, bent an attentive ear as 
Frieda poured out her suppressed irritation of days. 

“They think it is such a fine country, Karl. 
I cannot understand them. If they had never 
travelled — ^but they have been over Europe! They 
have been in Berlin! And still they find matter 
for admiration in this dirty little city with its 
buildings all heights, and its no trees anywhere 
except in the parks. Where are their beautiful 
statues? Where is their Victory Avenue? Where 
are their bridges? Ach! It is a poor cheap country. 
Tante Edith and Mr. Eldred are heavenly kind, 
and Hannah I have loved with a great love, but they 
have very little taste, and no sense at all.^' 

Karl puckered up his lips in a low whistle, and 
Frieda blushed. 

“I did not mean to say that, she said 

penitently. “ I am their guest. They are heavenly 
kind, yes. But I do not like the country.'^ 

It was a beautiful shady road they had come into 
then, and the hills at the end of it showed gracious 


curves. 


130 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


“This reminds me/^ said Karl meditatively, 
“of a place I went through near the Rhine one 
summer vacation. It’s really quite as charming, I 
believe. Look here, Frieda. Fm interested in the 
impression you make in this country. You’re going 
to spend this year with a lot of girls who don’t 
know much about Germany or Germans, and I 
don’t mind telling you that I’m rather anxious to 
have you do us credit.” 

“I shall do Germany credit, everywhere,” an- 
swered Frieda stoutly, but somewhat perturbed. 

“I’d like to think that,” answered Karl, “and 
on the whole I guess it’s true, but if you keep on 
this way, I’m not so sure of it. You are sitting 
here this afternoon making general statements 
about America when you have seen only one of the 
less important cities. That doesn’t strike me as the 
way one should judge. It doesn’t seem like the 
kind of thing Professor Lange would do. He is 
very accurate and careful in his judgments. And 
next, you haven’t shown much enthusiasm over 
the things the Eldreds have done for you the last 
day or two. Now, I never knew any one who was 
so unfailingly appreciative as Frau Professor Lange.” 

Frieda pouted. “But Hannah shows off.” 

“Shows off? Frieda, I’m afraid your sense of 
humor is rather one-sided. Hannah may take 
advantage of your not understanding perfectly, 
but who taught her that that sort of thing was 


THE MAKING OF A COMPACT 


131 


funny? Who told her the brass plate over the 
barber’s door meant that cakes were for sale there, 
so that she almost went in to buy one?” 

Frieda chuckled. ''It was not long I could fool 
her. She soon learned too much. Besides, my 
mother would not let me.” 

"You still think it was justifiable and humorous, 
I notice. But what would you have said if Hannah 
had told you to say: 'So am I’ when strangers said: 
'I am glad to meet you’? That was what some 
one told me, when I first began talking English.” 

"If Hannah should tell me wrong, I would tell 
her what I think of her!” blazed Frieda. "But 
you need not lecture any more, Karl. I understand, 
and I will be good. I will be better than Hannah. 
I will be better than yourself, than the saints, even. 
I will admire all things. Behold the ravishing 
country! The wonder of that sky! Not Italy, not 
Spain has such a dull gray color! The beauty of the 
dirty streets ! The charm of the crowded street-cars ! 
Only five cents a ride, sitting upon the laps of others! 
I will no longer sew on Sunday. I will never ask 
for beer. I will eat every morning little dry cushions 
of curled grain. I will rock madly. I will — ” 

"Hold on, Frieda!” shouted Karl. "Don’t re- 
form so fast. I can’t keep within speaking distance 
of you. You know, the reason I scolded you so 
hard was because I sometimes feel just as you do 
about the whole country!” 


132 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


Frieda put out her hand. Let us make a com- 
pact. For the honor of Germany, we will be 
scrupulously careful of what we say about America, 
but sometimes, all by ourselves, we can say just 
what we feel like saying.^^ Karl took her hand 
solemnly. “IFs a bargain, and you are a Cor-r-r- 
ker-r-rr^ 


CHAPTER ELEVEN 

BROOKMEADOW 

Clara Lyndesay stood in the doorway of her 
Brookmeadow house, listening for the coming 
trolley. As she waited, she looked about her with 
satisfaction. 

The big square house, freshly painted white, 
with green blinds at the windows, stood just at the 
edge of the broad elm-shaded road, known as the 
Albany Road because it had been, in stage-coach 
days, the main line between Albany and Boston. 
Just opposite the house was a broad meadow with 
a single elm in the center, and a clear line of hills 
for background. Boulder walls enclosed the mead- 
ow, and vines ran riot over them. The artist, 
looking, drew a deep breath. 

^The lot is fallen unto me in a fair ground. 
Yea, I have a goodly heritage,^ she thought 
to herself. “I think I shall call my wander-years 
over, and settle down here as Aunt Abigail hoped 
I would, and care for her old mahogany as she did, 
painting a picture now and then from my own 
doorway. The doorway itself is the most beautiful 


134 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


thing about the house/^ she added, stepping down 
the flagged path, to view it for the hundredth time 
that week. Brookmeadow houses were famous 
for their wonderful old doorways, with carved 
lintels, and this was not surpassed by any of them. 

Its owner’s contemplation was cut short by the 
far-off whir of the trolley, sounding clearly through 
the still morning. Miss Lyndesay walked quickly 
along the curving road to the Common where she 
was to receive her guests. Reaching the long 
narrow green, where a few cows nibbled placidly 
as in the days when a green in the center of the 
village was a necessary defensive measure, she 
walked idly up and down. The straggling road 
under the great elms passed the plain white meeting- 
house, dating from 1813, the Academy with its 
belfry, the little general store and post-office com- 
bined, and wound out of sight between dignified 
old houses, ^‘like Aunt Abigail’s — ^mine now,” she 
corrected her thought happily. No one was in 
sight. Up the road .came the trolley, jogging 
comfortably along. It stopped at the Common 
and its two passengers almost fell into the arms 
that waited to receive them. 

^‘0-eeeeee!” sighed Hannah, getting as close 
to Miss Lyndesay as she could on one side, while 
Frieda did the same on the other with a similar 
ejaculation. 

Two blue girls this time!” exclaimed Miss Lynde- 


BROOKMEADOW 


135 


say. ^^That is a very becoming suit, Frieda/^ and 
then forestalling any answer, for she had known 
of Frau Lange^s letter to Mrs. Eldred and had 
guessed that Frieda would not take altogether kindly 
to the new clothes, she inquired of Hannah as to 
the health of her father and mother. 

“TheyVe all right,^^ answered Hannah briefly. 
^‘And I am so glad to be here! Isn’t it just the 
dearest, sleepiest place you ever saw in all your 
life?” 

“ Is it your first visit here?” asked Miss Lynde- 
say. “ I supposed you knew these villages by 
heart.” 

^‘I don’t,” confessed Hannah. ^‘1 go to school 
all winter, and in the summer we go to the shore, 
and we haven’t any aunts or grandmothers or 
things like that living around here, so I don’t see 
places like this except in passing through them.” 

Well, you have a sort of aunt and grandmother 
combined living in Brookmeadow now, and I shall 
expect you to visit her often. How does it seem 
to you, Frieda?” 

It’s bigger than I thought it would be,” answered 
Frieda. ''Hannah said it was a Dorf. I thought 
there would be only two or three houses, and 
many little huts all close together, but we passed 
many houses.” 

" It is a good thing for you to see a New England 
village,” said Miss Lyndesay, "as part of the 


136 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


education you came for. And when you get out 
to Wisconsin, you will think you are in a different 
country altogether.’^ 

^‘1 did,” laughed Hannah. “Why, it looked as 
though it had been laid out with a ruler, and the 
trees were so little I felt as though they ought to 
be in flower-pots.” 

“Not the beechwoods, surely?” 

“Dear me, no. But in the town itself. The 
beechwoods are real forest. Is this the house? 
0, Aunt Clara, wouldn’t Catherine love it?” 

Miss Lyndesay was so unused to the house, 
herself, that she took a keen delight in showing the 
girls all over it, taking them from one big room into 
another, and telling them how to appreciate the 
fine old furniture. 

“The hangings are all new,” she explained. 
“Aunt Abigail’s taste was not like her heart! She 
kept the old furniture, but she had gaudy wall-papers 
and thick lace curtains, and I have had them all 
replaced. They aren’t done yet, everywhere, but 
these main rooms are. And she had the fireplace 
bricked up and a stove in the living-room. I 
found these andirons in the garret.” 

“ 0, let’s see the garret,” begged Hannah. “ We 
haven’t any, with old things in it, I mean. You 
know our house is only a little older than I am, 
and mother came from the West and she didn’t 
have heirlooms, and father had nothing whatever 


BROOKMEADOW 


137 


when they started. I should think this house would 
have been full of treasures.'^ 

It was. I found several good chairs and a desk 
in the garret. I shall have them refinished as soon 
as I can get around to it. There is a trunk that I 
have only peeped into. I saved it for you girls to 
open. ;put you must come out into the garden 
now, while the sun is there. 

Frieda had taken only a moderate interest in 
the house, but when they entered the tangled 
garden, German exclamations poured from her lips 
in a rapturous stream. 

Himmlisch! Reizend! Famos! Ach, wie wunder- 
huhsch! Was nennt man dies? Und dies?” She 
flew from one blossom to another, sniffing, admiring, 
and asking questions about those that were unknown 
to her, naming the others in German, and alto- 
gether showing a degree of enthusiasm which 
nothing American had hitherto been able to arouse 
in her. It was not because of KarPs compact, but 
because of her mighty love of flowers. She seemed 
to forget the others as she knelt before a little 
white tea-rose, kissing it and calling it pretty 
names. 

Miss Lyndesay and Hannah watched her. 

^^Now she seems more like herself,^’ said Hannah 
frowning, ^Hhe way she was in Berlin. I wish she 
would stay that way!’’ 

Miss Lyndesay looked at Hannah searchingly. 


138 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


Frieda/^ she called, “will you gather flowers 
for the luncheon table, please? Hannah is going 
to pick raspberries with me. I have a most beautiful 
old glass bowl to put them in.^^ 

Frieda undertook the task assigned her joyfully, 
and Hannah followed Miss Lyndesay to the kitchen, 
where Aunt Abigail’s old servant, inherited with the 
house, supplied them with pails for the berry- 
picking. The bushes were at the other end of the 
garden, where they could speak without being 
overheard. 

Miss Lyndesay said nothing at first, but she had 
not long to wait. Hannah had poured out her 
puzzles and worries in letters to this friend often, 
since the evening at Three Gables, long ago, when 
she had poured them out in words and tears, and 
found comfort. 

It was a torrent of words this time, but Miss 
Lyndesay, listening, distinguished between essen- 
tials and non-essentials by a divine gift which had 
always been hers. 

“She doesn’t seem the same Frieda,” declared 
Hannah, at last. “I don’t feel acquainted with 
her. Mamma says it is just because everything 
is new and strange to her. She hasn’t criticised 
things since she and Karl went off together for a 
little trip the other day, but she looks bored or 
unhappy and I don’t know what to do. I was 
a stranger when we were together before, but I’m 


BROOKMEADOW 139 

sure I didn^t act so, and I don^t see why she should 
now. So there 

'‘Did you go to Germany alone?'' Miss Lyndesay 
put the question casually, and Hannah looked up, 
surprised. 

" Why, no. Dad and Mamma were there all the 
time, of course. I couldn’t have lived without 
them — 0! I see what you mean,” and the berries 
dropped slowly into the half-full pail while Hannah 
meditated. 

Clara Lyndesay, observing her bent face, felt 
satisfied. It was not the first time she had seen 
Hannah Eldred come out of a quandary with very 
little help. 

“She doesn't do things by halves, either,” she 
thought. “Frieda won't have such a lonely time 
from now on.” Aloud she said : 

“I wondered, when I heard you speak to Frieda 
in that careful explanatory way, as you might to a 
child who had been left in your care rather against 
your will, if you seemed just natural to Frieda! 
Frau Lange realized that there was some risk in 
sending Frieda over here. She told me that she 
knew young girls changed rapidly in tastes and 
ideals, and it might be that you two would not care 
so much for each other now. But she hoped, for the 
sake of the friendship between your mother and 
herself, that the two years would prove not to have 
separated you greatly. I assured her that, while 


140 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


there might be some little difficulty at first, you 
would probably come out better friends than ever. 
There! I think we have quite enough berries. 
If you will just take them in to Evangeline, 141 
see about Frieda’s flowers. You’ll find a pitcher 
of shrub on the ice, and goblets on the tray all 
ready to bring out. We’ll arrange the flowers on 
the back stoop, I think, and you might bring us 
some refreshment there.” 

Frieda had gathered flowers eagerly, but without 
much discrimination. Miss Lyndesay helped her sort 
them and make several bouquets instead of one varie- 
gated one, talking with her the while of incidents 
of their journey, till Frieda was entirely at her ease. 
By the time Hannah came out with the cool drink, 
the slight constraint that had existed for days 
between Frieda and herself seemed to have vanished. 
Joyfully, Hannah entered into the new spirit, and 
when Miss Lyndesay went in to answer Evangeline’s 
questions about luncheon, her guests were bubbling 
with mirth over some reminiscence of their Berlin 
days. 

Immediately after luncheon, a caller arrived, 
with the obvious intention of spending some time. 
Miss Lyndesay gave the girls a trunk key and sent 
them off to do their garret exploring by themselves, 
giving them permission to do whatever they liked 
with anything they might find. They climbed the 
polished stairs, with arms interlaced, chattering 


BROOKMEADOW 


141 


in German and English mixed, and reached the big 
shadowy garret out of breath. The trunks were 
piled in a cobwebby corner, and their key proved 
to belong to the lowest one in the pile. That meant 
much mighty tugging, but at last the encumbering 
ones were removed and they turned the key in the 
lock and lifted the heavy lid. 

‘‘0!” They spoke softly and leaned over, 
clinging to each other with excitement. In the top 
tray lay a doll dressed as if for a wedding. She wore 
a white satin gown, short-waisted, with a long 
panel down the front, embroidered with tiny pearls 
and gold thread. Her little feet were adorned with 
high-heeled slippers of white silk, also embroidered 
in the tiny pearls. A necklace of shining stones, 
and two little earrings made them gasp with delight. 
In the soft wavy hair was a high shell comb. The 
little lady held a book in her clasped hands, and her 
eyes, half closed, looked sleepily out from under 
long eyelashes. 

^^See! Here is a card,^^ said Frieda, touching 
the soft folds of yellowed tissue paper that lay 
around the little figure in the tray. 

Hannah lifted the card with awe, and read: 
^‘The doll of Millicent Wadsworth, as she dressed 
it on her own Wedding Day, to be put aside and 
never played with more. The Bishop said it was 
a sinful Waste to dress her so^ but my Husband 
said he did not care!’’ 


142 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


^^What a reckless man My Husband was!’^ said 
Hannah, looking back at the doll once more. “ Think 
of playing with dolls up to your wedding day! 
I wonder how old she was.^^ 

“ Let’s look in the other trays,” suggested Frieda. 
They removed the top one carefully, to find almost 
as delightful treasures in the next. Quite as de- 
lightful, perhaps, for here was the little Millicent’s 
wedding-gown, with her slippers and necklace and 
high shell comb, all like those the doll wore. Here, 
too, was a card, but written in an older hand: 

“The Wedding Clothes of Millicent Wadsworth 
Berryfield, married on the 16th anniversary of her 
birth to John Berryfield, Esq., a Devoted Lover 
and Husband. She died three months and two 
days after of an Unknown Malady. John Berryfield 
returned to England, leaving these. Her Possessions, 
to be kept sacredly till he should come after them.” 

“It’s dated almost a hundred years ago. Of 
course, he is dead too, now. I wonder if she pined 
for her doll to play with.” 

Frieda, leaving speculation to Hannah, was taking 
the pretty garments out, one by one. 

“Here is another dress!” she exclaimed. “A 
pink one. 0, Hannah, you would look so pretty 
in this!” She held it up, quaint in style as the other, 
with a little train, flowered silk over a straight 
front panel of plain pink, tight sleeves with a little 
puff at the shoulder. 


BROOKMEADOW 143 

wonder — ^Do you suppose we dare try them 
on? They look almost big enough/^ 

course, we dare. Miss Lyndesay told us 
to do what we liked and she had peeped into this 
trunk, so she knew what was in it. We will be as 
careful as careful can be.^^ 

They piled their arms with the delicate old 
fabrics and carried them down to their own room 
where they proceeded to dress up. It was not an 
easy process, for they dared not tug too hard, and 
Millicent had been slenderer than they, though 
quite as tall. The little slippers defied them, and 
the necklace of pearls they did not touch. 1 think 
her husband gave her that, and no one else 
should ever wear it,^^ said Hannah, and Frieda 
agreed. 

1 By the time they had finished dressing, they 
■ were flushed and rosy. They stole out into the hall 
and peered over the banisters to see if the caller 
showed signs of departure. Miss Lyndesay was 
' just closing the door upon her. As she turned 
I back, she heard steps on the stairs and, looking up, 
1 saw a sight she loved always afterward to remember, 
j Two little Old World ladies, one in white and brocade, 
I the other in flowered pink satin, came down the 
! winding stairs, their eyes bright with excitement, 
\ their hair rough, and the big blue hair-ribbons, 
I which they had quite forgotten to remove, showing 
incongruously above their minuet gowns. 


144 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


^^0 you pretty children!’^ cried Miss Lyndesay. 
‘‘Millicent herself wasn’t sweeter, Fm sure, when 
the Bishop married her off to John. Why didn’t 
you bring the doll?” 

“We were afraid we’d drop her,” said Hannah, 
stepping to the floor. “There! I’m glad I’m 
safely down. You can’t think what awkward 
skirts these are to walk in. 0 !” 

For as she turned, Frieda stepped on her train, 
and with shrieks both fell to the floor, splitting their 
hundred-year-old seams. 

Miss Lyndesay helped them up, laughing at their 
rueful faces, and kissing away the tears that would 
come at the sight of the havoc they had wrought. 

“Cheer up, dear hearts! It was purest accident. 
And Millicent’s pretty gowns have served their 
purposes long ago. I’ve no doubt they can be put 
together again well enough, and in any case you 
must not care! I forbid it. Come, let’s get back 
into our own century, and take a walk before the 
sun goes down. I have no end of pretty by-paths 
to show you.” 

That evening, there was enough chill in the air 
for a small fire in the living-room fireplace, and Miss 
Lyndesay seated herself before it on a high-backed 
settle, with a girl on either side of her. 

“If I didn’t remember that one of the things 
Hannah liked me for first was my habit of sitting 
quietly without work,” she said, “I should be 


BROOKMEADOW 


145 


tempted to improve these minutes by finishing 
the carving design I am making to go over the 
fireplace/^ 

“What is it? Let us see it, and maybe wedl 
let you. You have such a peaceful way of working 
you don^t make me nervous as some people do.^^ 

“ It is there on the desk.'^ 

Hannah brought the brown paper, and she and 
Frieda bent over it together. 

“L-a-e,^^ spelled Hannah, but Frieda looked up, 
delighted. 

“I know. Laetus sorte meal It means ^ Happy 
in my lot!’ It is in the book Tante Edith sent me 
for my birthday, about the little cripple.” 

“0, yes, Tlie Story of a Short Life. I’ve read 
that, too,” said Hannah, “but I didn’t recognize 
it just at first. I should think, if it is to be your 
motto, you’d have to change the gender and make 
it ‘ laeta, ’ Aunt Clara.” 

Miss Lyndesay laughed. “I’m glad you both 
know the story. I expected Hannah to, but hardly 
Frieda. Did you read it all by yourself, dear?” 

“Yes,” answered Frieda proudly. “I have read 
seven English books, and I like that best. Mother 
and I made a list of Poor Things the way Leonard 
did.” 

“0, how nice!” cried Hannah. “Did you put 
Bertha’s lame sister on it?” 

“ Yes, and Onkel Heinrich’s brother who can not 


146 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


see and is always cheerful, and the little woman 
who sells string and roses in the shop under us, 
and Edna Helm who had to stop school and go 
to work because her father couldn’t afford to take 
care of her.” 

^^Poor Edna!” said Hannah. liked her best 
of all your friends. I’m going to start a Poor Things 
book myself, when I get home.” 

^^Have you ever heard of the Guild of Brave 
Poor Things in England?” asked Miss Lyndesay, 
and as the girls showed their interest she went on to 
tell them of the organization which took its name 
and its motive from Mrs. Ewing’s little story, 
and has grown into a large organization with 
industrial schools and shops. 

So all these people, boys and men and women and 
girls who cannot work in factories, because of some 
infirmity, are enabled to make beautiful things 
and to sell them. I bought some of their doll 
furniture when I was last in London. Let me see. 
Yes, it was in the box I unpacked yesterday.” 

^'Let me get it,” begged Frieda, and as soon as 
she had been told where to look she was off. She 
came quickly back again bringing a doll’s white- 
wood bed, strong and well-made as the fine old 
furniture which had outlived Aunt Abigail and her 
parents. 

‘^It is just right for Millicent’s doll,” cried Frieda, 
as she brought it in. ^‘Couldn’t we put her in it, 


BROOKMEADOW 


147 


Tante Clara, to make up for having torn the pretty 
dresses 

Indeed you may. I had no one in mind to give 
it to, but bought it because I had enjoyed visiting 
the school at Chailey.’^ 

Can all the cripples make pretty things like this?’^ 
asked Hannah, wondering, as Frieda placed the 
bed in her hands. 

0, no, only a very few. But the Guild of Brave 
Poor Things does‘ many other things, besides 
establishing the schools. All maimed persons may 
belong, and the guild makes investigations, finds 
out if they can be helped by surgery, and, if not, 
tries to make their lives happier in every possible 
way. Of course, those of them who can use their 
hands are happier doing so than they could be in 
any other way. Every Friday afternoon, from three 
to six, they meet in the settlement rooms and 
have music and games and reading, and hear talks 
on interesting subjects by ladies and gentlemen 
who are glad to tell them of their particular lines 
of work. Then they have a short service of prayer — ” 
“Do they sing the tug-of-war hymn?^^ asked 
Hannah eagerly. “I remember about that better 
than anything else in the book.^^ 

“Yes, they almost always sing that. I heard 
them, myself, and Miss Lyndesay^s eyes grew 
sweeter at the thought. “I have never heard 
anything more affecting than that singing: 


148 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


“ ‘ Who best can drink His cup of woe, 
Triumphant over pain, 

Who patient bears His cross below, 
He follows in His train.’ ” 


Frieda and Hannah were still as she finished 
speaking, and all three sat looking at the fire for 
a few moments in silence. Presently Hannah said 
softly: 

“And they have ^ Laetus sorte mea’ for a motto? 
I can see how you could take it, Aunt Clara, for 
of course you have everything anybody could 
want. You are well and beautiful and good, and 
have money and talent and friends.’’ 

Miss Lyndesay was silent and Hannah, who had 
been studying the fiames reflectively, looked up 
presently to see why she made no reply. There 
was a grave expression on her face, and Hannah’s 
grew startled. 

Miss Lyndesay, seeing the look of alarm in the 
child’s eyes, smiled and took her hand. 

“Would you give up your father and mother 
for any or all of those things, Hannah dear?” she 
said. 

“0.'” cried Hannah in a hurt frightened tone, 
and Frieda suddenly choked back a sob. 

Miss Lyndesay lifted her head quickly. 

“ Girls, do you realize the absurdity of us? Here 
we started out discussing: ^ Happy in my lot’ 
and in a few minutes we have grown sad with the 


BROOKMEADOW 


149 


burden of sorrow of half the world and our own 
individual troubles besides! That is anything but 
wise, isnT it? I didnT intend to preach to you 
when I invited you to Brookmeadow. But since 
we are on the subject, let's say a little more 
and then drop it. I do want you to remember 
that while the people who seem fortunate often 
have something to bear that offsets most of the 
pleasant circumstances of their lives, at the same 
time, many people who seem to have nothing to be 
glad about are persistently and genuinely joyful. 
The sad folk meet sadness everywhere, and the glad 
folk find gladness. Let me read you something, 
written by Sister Grace, who founded the order of 
Brave Poor Things about the time you girls were 
born, and then I refuse to say or hear another 
solemn word this evening!" 

She took up a little pamphlet and read aloud: 

“To bear pain cheerfully, to take defeat nobly, 
to be constant and loyal, to be brave and happy with 
the odds dead against us, to be full of sympathy 
and tenderness — ^these are gifts which mark out 
the truly great." 

“Now let's put Millicent's doll to bed," suggested 
Frieda, who disliked solemnity and saw that Hannah 
was still staring into the fire. Miss Lyndesay 
seconded the motion, and, taking candles, the 
three mounted into the garret, sought out the old 
trunk and brought the beautiful doll down stairs. 


150 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


There, by the fire, they laid her gently down on a 
soft blanket in the pretty bed which was exactly 
the right size. 

Then Evangeline appeared with a corn-popper 
and a sack of corn, and the half-hour before bedtime 
passed quickly and merrily away. 

When Aunt Clara had tucked her guests into the 
big four-poster, they cuddled close to each other, 
forgetting the friction of the last few days in present 
comfort, sleepily grateful for the glimpse they had 
had that day of difficulties and griefs much greater 
than any of their own, and each resolving to be 
happy in her lot. 


CHAPTER TWELVE 


ARRIVAL AT WINSTED 

Mr. and Mrs. Eldred turned away from the 
station, from which the through Chicago train had 
just pulled out, carrying with it two passengers 
for Winsted, Wisconsin. 

“Well, I’m glad that’s over,” said Mrs. Eldred 
aloud. “I always feel sorry for Hannah when she 
has to say good-by. She does suffer so over it, 
but she recovers quickly.” 

“ She seems to be acquiring a comfortable philoso- 
phy,” remarked Mr. Eldred, as he looked at his 
watch and then up the street where his car was not 
in sight. “She told me that the world was fixed 
wrong, because it ought to be possible to be with all 
of one’s beloveds at the same time. ^But,’ she added 
sagely, Hhat’s probably Heaven.’ ” 

“ ^ Earth being so good, would Heaven seem 
best?’ ” quoted Hannah’s mother, smiling. “We 
have all had to stay our hearts with that thought, 
I suppose. I am much more content about both 
girls, since Karl and Miss Lyndesay took them in 
hand. For a few days I really feared that the 


152 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


adjustment might be too much for them. But 
Karl worked some magic spell over Frieda, and Miss 
Lyndesay charmed Hannah. I must go over to 
Brookmeadow this very week, and pay my respects 
to that remarkable woman. 

^‘Some mothers would be jealous of such an 
outside influence,^^ suggested Mr. Eldred, glancing 
fondly at his pretty little wife. 

“Then they are very unwise,^^ declared that 
lady decisively. “I remember my own girlhood 
well enough to know that there were certain crises 
through which my mother could not help me as 
well as an outsider, simply because she was my 
mother. I^m not in the least afraid that any one 
could be dearer to Hannah than I am, and she is 
such a bundle of contradictions, of sweet impulses 
and rebelliousness, that I'm heartily glad of all 
the help I can get in bringing her up. There's 
my car. Do try to come home to luncheon. I'll 
be missing my lively children and their German- 
English patois!" 

The two girls on the train had settled themselves 
cosily with the aid of a porter rendered over-zealous 
by Mr. Eldred's generosity, and were watching the 
flying scenery and the other passengers with interest. 
Frieda was not eager to arrive at her journey's 
end. She already missed Karl and the friendly 
Eldreds, who had seemed nearer her own parents 
than any one else in this strange country could. 


ARRIVAL AT WINSTED 


153 


The prospect before her was not wholly pleasant. 
Hannah had spent so much energy in singing the 
praises of Dexter College, Alice Prescott and Cather- 
ine Smith, that Frieda’s desire to see them was 
distinctly modified by a jealous feeling that such 
perfections must be somewhat tiresome. She was 
much more interested in watching a bride and groom 
across the aisle, and in making comments on Ameri- 
can trains, some of which, according to her compact 
with Karl, she kept to herself, meaning to unburden 
her mind in the first letter she should write him. 
Others of a favorable sort she made aloud to Hannah, 
who received them graciously, on behalf of the nation. 
The day wore away not unpleasantly, but when 
the gas was lighted and the bride frankly rested 
her head upon the bridegroom’s shoulder, a mighty 
homesickness swept over Frieda. She could barely 
choke down her food in the dining-car, and hated 
a waiter for watching her with a white-toothed 
smile. The porter was making up berths when they 
returned and the proceeding scandalized her, accus- 
tomed as she was to the decency of compartment 
trains. 

Forgetting her promise, she spoke her disgust: 

Ladies and gentlemen like pots of marmalade 
on shelves in a cupboard!” 

Hannah only laughed and scrambled up to the 
top shelf with the agility of a squirrel, leaving 
Frieda to solitude and unsuspected misery. 


154 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


The porter and the grinning waiter would not be 
forgotten. Their blackness combined with the 
close warm atmosphere to alarm her. She dared 
not undress, and when she tried to lie down, she 
felt as though she should choke. The darkness 
seemed to her sleepy but resisting mind to be taking 
on human shape. With her eyes closed she saw it 
develop pink fingernails and gleaming teeth and 
eyeballs. Her real distrust of anything foreign 
was made keener by her homesickness. At last 
she fell into an uneasy sleep, clutching her purse 
and her gold beads tightly. At each station she 
woke with a jerk and a horrible conviction that the 
train had been wrecked and she was the sole survivor. 
Sometimes she put her hand up and felt of the 
wooden wall over her head for assurance that the 
upper berth to which Hannah had blithely com- 
mitted herself had not treacherously closed. There 
were subdued rustlings in the aisle now and then, 
and quick brushings past her curtains which made 
her sit up, gasping, her eyes staring into the dark 
and her heart thumping. Frieda Lange crawled 
out of her tumbled berth next morning, certain that 
life could have in store for her nothing more hideous 
than her first night in an American sleeping-car. 

Hannah, on the other hand, having “slept like 
a top, the way you ought to in an upper berth,'' 
as she said with a gleeful laugh, and having made 
her toilet with the lucky ease which seemed one of 


ARRIVAL AT WINSTED 


155 


her characteristics, was full of good spirits, and 
joyous anticipations. Winsted seemed very near, 
and her bubbling joy over the prospect of seeing 
Catherine added to Frieda^s gloom. They went 
into the dining-car to breakfast, where Frieda was 
so unfortunate as to be shot from her seat as the 
train dashed around a curve, a glass of milk follow- 
ing her, anointing her hair and face in a manner 
calculated to ruffle the serenest temper. Hannah 
and the too friendly waiter helped her up with an 
effort at self-control, but Frieda had mislaid her 
sense of humor. 

The change of cars in Chicago was accomplished 
simply, Hannah thoroughly enjoying leading the 
way and Frieda sulkily following. It would have 
taken more than a fit of sulks on Frieda’s part to 
have quenched Hannah’s joy in life that day, 
however, and she rattled on of the pleasures coming, 
scarcely noticing Frieda’s failure to respond. 

Winsted!” 

Hannah was out of the car almost before it stopped. 
Frieda, delayed by other passengers who pushed 
in ahead of her, saw the rapturous meeting between 
her own Hannah and a tall sweet-faced girl with 
red-gold hair, whose beauty she was obliged to 
admit, though she did so gloomily. ''I hoped she 
would be homely,” she growled to herself as she 
stepped down to the platform, and suffered Catherine 
to kiss her cheek. 


156 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


^‘Let^s walk/^ suggested Catherine. ^'It^s much 
too beautiful a day to be cooped in a bus. I’ll have 
your bags sent up. 0, Hannah, my darling, IVe 
been waiting ages for you! And for you, too, 
Frieda,” she added shyly. 

But Frieda was regarding the wrinkled pleats 
in her dress, and was conscious that her hair was 
still wet with milk; therefore she only mumbled 
something and stalked along beside the others 
who, in their delight at seeing each other, quickly 
forgot her, and chattered away in English, with 
many little bursts of laughter. 

Dr. Helen was out when they reached the pretty 
house on the hillside. Catherine led Frieda to the 
big rose guest-chamber, and then carried Hannah 
off across the wide hall to her own room and the 
little dressing-room opening from it, which Hannah 
had occupied on her first visit a year and a half 
before. The trunks arrived at once, and Hannah 
immediately began to unpack, Catherine sitting on 
the edge of the bed and exclaiming over every new 
frock as it came out. Frieda, left alone, because 
she had only partly understood the invitation the 
others gave her to join them, and had wilfully refused 
the part she had understood, was wretched indeed. 
She sat stiffly on a straight mahogany chair, and 
wished with all her might that she had never been 
born, or at least, if that mistake had been inevitable, 
that she had never left her native land. 


ARRIVAL AT WINSTED 


157 


Suddenly there came a quick tap at the door and 
Hannah, not waiting for a ^‘Come/^ ran in and 
tossed a parcel into her lap. 

^^What? Aren^t you dressed yet? Do hurry. 
Karl asked me to give you this as soon as we got 
here. Did Catherine show you your bath-room? 
You have one all to yourself; isn’t that lovely? 
It’s the most beautiful house, anyway. 0, what 
dear roses on the dressing-table! Wasn’t it just 
like Catherine to put them there? Hurry up. Dr. 
Helen will be here pretty soon, and Polly Osgood 
and Dot Winthrop are coming over to see us. 

I I’d put on that white poplin skirt and the waist 
with the blue butterfly bow at your throat. You 
; look awfully fetching in that. Yes, Catherine, 
\ I’m coming,” and she flew out, tossing a kiss to 
I Frieda. 

I In her excitement she had spoken in English, 
[ and the compliment was quite lost on Frieda who 

I had not yet learned the meaning of ^Hetching.” 
That young person’s sulks were not dissipated by 
the call, accordingly, and there is no telling what 
depths of obstinate misery she might have reached, 
had not Karl’s parcel fallen to the floor and called 
attention to itself. With a manner which suggested 
to her mirror that life was distinctly not worth 
while, Frieda lifted the object and drearily removed 
the wrappings. 

From a small carved frame Karl’s clear honest 


158 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


face looked out at her, and a card in the comer 
read — ^in German — Remember the compact, Com- 
rade!’^ 

Like a flash brightness came back to Frieda^s 
face. Good cheer was much more natural to her 
than moroseness. From the face in the picture 
she turned her gaze to the tousled reflection in the 
mirror. ^‘The Fatherland is not much honored 
by such a representative!’^ she said, and began 
taking down her hair with a fine energy. 

In the living-room down stairs teacups were 
clinking, and girls’ voices, subdued and sweet, 
mingled with laughter. Hannah, her back to the 
door, was talking merrily to Dot, to whom she had 
taken an instantaneous liking; Catherine bent 
anxiously over the tea-tray on the wicker table 
in the window when Polly, from the comfortable 
depths of a low chair, looked up and saw on the 
landing of the stairs a picture that made her catch 
her breath. 

Frieda, in a pale pink mull gown, with roses in her 
long soft sash, her yellow braids wound into a gar- 
land around her head, her cheeks burning with 
shyness, and her big eyes looking wistful and sweet, 
stood waiting. Polly sprang up with a soft little 
“0!” Catherine, looking up, smiled a welcome, 
but Polly went forward and taking Frieda’s hands 
in both of hers, said eagerly: We’ve been waiting 
and waiting for you, Frieda.” 


ARRIVAL AT WINSTED 


159 


Dot was introduced, but her usual self-possession 
promptly deserted her. always feel as though 
I ought to shout to a foreigner,” she had confessed 
to Hannah, “and in order not to do that, I just 
have to keep still.” Catherine, who had felt a little 
rebuffed by Frieda^s chilly manner at the station, 
and Hannah, not quite sure what the present 
mood might indicate, were both willing to leave to 
Polly the role she had undertaken. Frieda sat quite 
near her, and watched her pretty bright movements 
with gentle interest, maintaining a silence mean- 
while only surpassed in completeness by Dot^s. 
Hannah rattled on, but there was a hollowness in 
the rattle that made Catherine's hostess heart 
falter. She was never fluent, herself. - Her gentle 
art consisted in making her guests entertain them- 
selves and each other. 

Then Dr. Helen came in, big, strong and com- 
petent, socially and in every other way. 

Her welcome to Frieda would have warmed an 
iceberg's heart. She hugged Hannah, and gave 
her right hand to Polly and the left to Dot. “ Give 
me a taste of your tea. Daughter,” she said, as she 
took off her gloves and her hat and seated herself. 
“ It will take something as strong as tea to heal my 
weary spirit this afternoon. I've just had an 
emergency call.” 

Dr. Helen's eyes smiled reminiscently, and Dot 
awoke. 


160 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


tell US, do, do. Dr. Helen,^^ she pleaded. 

know it^s something funny, by the twinkle in 
your eye. And we’ll never, never tell.” 

Dr. Helen tasted- her tea leisurely, and added a 
slice of lemon. 

don’t tell tales about my patients, but there 
is no sense in a rule that isn’t transgressed once in 
a while. You wouldn’t know it was a rule! And 
I do believe you girls will enjoy this and never 
tell.” 

You ^give us credit for more discretion than you 
have, yourself?’ ” quoted Catherine. 

“ If you like to put it that way! I was overtaken 
on my way home to greet these visitors by a mes- 
senger from Mrs. Swinburne, saying that Elsmere 
was very ill. It is a wonder that he has lived as 
long as he has, with his reckless tendencies and 
such erratic care. So I hastened over to the house. 
Mrs. Swinburne was in a mild state of hysterics, 
and it was some time before I could quiet her enough 
to learn the difficulty. Then my alarm vanished, 
changed to wrath, would perhaps be more accurate. 
Elsmere had eaten all her pills! They were pills 
that would not have hurt a cat. Mrs. Swinburne’s 
ailments are of a nature to require very weak 
remedies.” 

Bread and butter?” asked Dot, with a twinkle 
as merry as the doctor’s own. 

'^Something of that sort! But Elsmere did not 


ARRIVAL AT WINSTED 


161 


know that. They might have been morphia or 
arsenic for all he knew. The principle in his case 
was the same. His mother said ‘no symptoms 
had set in as yet/ but she wanted me to administer 
an antidote at once. I couldnT refuse her!’^ 

“ Mother ! What did you do ^ 

I “First I caused the patient to be removed to his 
own room and the doors to be closed. Then I 
j gave him a sound scolding and a good smart spank- 

i 

j “0 dear Doctor Helen!’’ sighed Polly softly, 

» while Dot clapped her hands with glee, and even 
! Catherine showed signs of satisfaction. 

1 “ Did his mother hear you?” 

j “If she had, I was prepared to tell her it was 
I necessary to restore the circulation. I was afraid 
I the child might howl, but it was a new experience 
\ to him and he took it so very pleasantly that I am 
i now worried for fear he liked it!” Dr Helen set 
I down her teacup and turned to Frieda. “You 
j will think me a barbarous physician, Frieda, but 
really this boy has needed discipline for a long time, 
and there is no one to give it to him. His pranks 
are often dangerous.” 

“Like the building of a fire under the barn to 
keep his cat warm.” 

“ Yes, and making a ladder of kindling wood and 
climbing up to the second story on it.” 

“He is a pretty naughty boy,” finished Dr. 


162 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


Helen, ^'and a very sweet attractive one withal. 
I hope I made it clear to-day, that he is not to go 
about eating medicine. Now I must hear how 
Mrs. Eldred is, and what soil of a journey you had. 
Did Catherine make you properly comfortable?^^ 

Hannah drew close to Dr. Helen and cuddled 
her hand as she answered. Then she suddenly 
said : “ 0, you know, Frieda and I saw Miss Lynde- 
say just before we came away. Do tell about it, 
Frieda.’^ 

Frieda’s face lighted at the name. ^^She is very 
wonderful,” she said shyly. ^^She said: ^Let me 
greet myself to them.’ She finds herself well, 
and her house is beautiful.” 

I am so glad. Thank you very much for bring- 
ing us direct word from her. See! this is the 
portrait she painted of Catherine some time ago.” 
And Dr. Helen took Frieda a little apart to get a 
good light on the painting of Catherine and Hotspur, 
almost the only picture the big room with its walls 
of books contained. It developed that Frieda 
was very fond of dogs and her rapture over the 
picture made it necessary to call in the original, 
who instantly recognized in her a discriminating 
soul. Frieda dropped down on the leather window- 
seat and fondled his tawny sides with the deepest 
feeling of rest she had had in two days. He 
understands me,” she thought, with almost pas- 
sionate gratitude. 


ARRIVAL AT WINSTED 


163 


Polly and Dot bade her good-by in a few minutes. 

I'm going to ask you to go out on the river with 
me and talk German to me all alone. I've studied 
it in college/' said Polly, “and I do want to see 
whether I can understand a real German. We won't 
let Catherine or Hannah go. I should be afraid 
to try before them, but I don't believe I should 
be at all afraid of you." 

Frieda caught Polly's hand in hers, and suddenly 
carried it to her lips and kissed it. Polly reddened 
a little, while Dot turned abruptly away and made 
her adieux to Catherine and Hannah. 

“Isn't she a dear?" sighed Polly, as she and 
Dot went down the walk. “I do think she's as 
charming as a picture in a sweet old-fashioned 
book, and I want to learn to read the printing 
that describes the picture." 

“Well, you may for all of me," replied Dot. 
“But I don't believe I'd ever feel safe with her. 
I felt all hands and feet, and if she should ever kiss 
my hand!" 

“She won't!" laughed Polly. “You needn't 
fear! I wonder how the boys will like her. She 
is unusually good-looking, and her clothes are 
delightful. And I like her eyes. There is fun 
in her somewhere. You mark my words. Dot 
Winthrop. Once she learns English, there'll be 
something doing. There's nothing colorless or 
monotonous about Frieda Lange." 


CHAPTER THIRTEEN 


CAUGHT IN A SHOWER 

The three girls, ^‘just the right number, one for 
each gable, as Dr. Harlow said, had been very 
busy that morning. Their beds made, Catherine 
had gone down to market, while Frieda dusted 
the living-room, and Hannah swept the porches. 

like doing things like this,^^ said Frieda sud- 
denly, as she came to the doorway, and shook her 
duster energetically. “ Do you remember the time 
we got our own supper in Berlin, Hannah 

Indeed I do,^^ said Hannah heartily, leaning 
on her broom. “You look awfully pretty this 
morning, Frieda, in that plaid gingham. Are you 
going off with Polly, as usual? I donT see you at 
all, it seems to me.’^ 

“ You have Catherine, answered Frieda. “ Polly 
is learning German. 

“And you are learning English. I can see that 
you have improved a lot this week. But you are 
getting pretty slangy. It would be better for you 
to learn from Catherine than from Polly.^^ 

Frieda shook her head firmly. “I am in awe 


Caught in a shower 


165 


' of Catherine/’ she announced, ^^and with you I 
1 feel weary talking English, for I know you can 
j talk German. But Polly cannot do any other, 
and I must talk with her. She is delightsome.” 

So is Catherine,” said Hannah, looking at 
Frieda wistfully. It was a worry to her that these 
! two who were to be together all the next year 
should be so slow in getting acquainted. ^'One is 
obstinate and the other is shy, and I don’t know 
when they will get over it,” she sighed to herself, 
as Frieda, seeing Catherine come up the walk, 
disappeared into the house. 

Catherine was breathless with her quick climb 
and her many parcels. She dropped into a chair 
on the porch, and took off her hat to fan herself. 

There is the funniest woman on the street,” she 
said. I know she is an agent, and I suppose she’ll 
be here soon; but I’ve got to shell these peas and 
I want to do it out here, so I shan’t run from her. 
Won’t you bring out some pans for the peas when 
you take your broom in, Hannah? I’m too weary 
to move.” 

Hannah, on her way after pans, persuaded Frieda 
to come out and help shell peas, and all three were 
soon busily at work. 

Suddenly Catherine snapped a pea at Hannah 
to attract her attention. 

^^My agent!” she whispered, as a woman in a 
loose flowing gown marched toward them. 


166 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


She mounted the steps and, stooping over 
Catherine, snapped something around her neck. 

There she said, straightening herself. “That 
will never come off.^^ 

All three girls gasped. Catherine clutched at 
the offending article and the peas rolled in all 
directions. 

“It^s a collar,^^ said the woman triumphantly. 
“You can wear it forever. Just put a fresh ribbon 
over it now and then, and youTe always dressed. 
Only fifteen cents. I’ll try one on you. Miss — ’’ 
and before Hannah could utter a protest she was 
caught in the celluloid trap as Catherine had been. 
Speechless they faced each other. With a little 
gasp Frieda slipped over the porch railing and 
disappeared around the corner of the house. Hot- 
spur came bounding after her and she patted him, 
and hugged him and laughed and laughed. 

“A collar just like yours. Hotspur dear,’’ she 
told him in German. “And it will never come off! 
Catherine, the Saint, the Perfect, the Inviolate, 
sitting there looking like a — ^in English, like an 
idiom! 0, Hotspur, dear, it has done me good. 
I have wished I could want to laugh at her. Now 
I shan’t be so afraid of her ever again. Come! 
we must go. It’s time for our row.” And Frieda 
danced off across a little wood path which was a 
short-cut to the boat-house. 

Polly was waiting, and in a very few minutes 


CAUGHT IN A SHOWER 


167 


the Minnehaha’^ was launched. It was a beautiful 
day, the river rippling with waves and twinkling 
with reflections of trees, but the ardent oarswomen 
saw neither the beauty surrounding them nor the 
black clouds threatening. They were practising 
for a race. Neither spoke. They pulled with long 
steady strokes in perfect time. Suddenly Frieda^s 
oar flopped and caught a crab.^^ The bow at the 
same moment struck the bank, and a great scram- 
bling tearing sound followed. In a fright the girls 
huddled together in the bottom of the boat, not 
daring to look up. 

‘^0, pshaw! IFs only a cow, more afraid than 
we were. She made all that noise just tearing up 
the bank.’' 

^^I thought it was an earthshake,” sighed Frieda, 
leaning back and resting. That was one hundred 
strokes without missing. I didn’t know the bank 
was so near.” 

‘^Neither did I. That’s the trouble with us, 
Frieda. We get so interested in rowing that we 
forget to steer.” 

We steered into a steer that time.” 

‘^0, Frieda! You ought not to be allowed to 
make jokes in English, you make such bad ones.” 

Frieda smiled cheerfully. ''Ten days ago I 
thought I should never make a joke in any language, 
or laugh at one again. I was very sorrowful when 
I came here, Polly.’^ 


168 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


“I didn^t dream it/’ answered Polly. ^^You 
looked very sweet when I first saw you, and I 
thought you kept still because you didn^t care to 
talk! But we have had a lot of fun these days, 
haven’t we? I feel as though I had known you a 
long time. Wish you were going to Wellesley.” 

^^So do I. It would be delightful, with you 
there and Karl and Hannah so near. But my 
parents decided for me. Karl will go to see you, 
though.” 

That’s nice. Really, Frieda, you will find it’s 
lots easier at a small college than a large one at 
first. And you can come on East afterward. 
Dexter is fine, and you’ll have such a start, going 
in as Catherine’s friend.” 

Frieda grimaced. 

If every one there is as beautiful and — apart as 
Catherine is, I shan’t get on very well. Catherine 
is like a saint. She could never understand wicked- 
ness as you and Hannah do.” 

“Thanks very much!” Polly answered dryly. 
“But you take my word for it, Catherine isn’t 
just a saint. There is fun in her, too, though not 
on the surface. You may always feel as though 
she were a beautiful picture or poem but you 
won’t like her the less for that. She’s not stand- 
offish. She’s just different. My dear, I felt a 
drop.” 

“So did I. And there’s another.” Straight- 


CAUGHT IN A SHOWER 


169 


way the heavens opened and a deluge descended, 
most of it, it seemed, aiming for the small rowboat 
at the pasture’s edge. 

The thin roof of boughs which had hidden from 
their view the swiftly gathering clouds was wholly 
inadequate to the task of sheltering them from 
the contents of the clouds. Great cracks of light- 
ning showed in the dark sky, and thunder rattled 
and roared and rumbled and burst. 

Polly looked grave. 

We’ll drown if we stay here, and we could never 
row home. Look at the waves! And if we stay 
here, we’re also liable to be struck by lightning. 
Let’s leave the boat and make for that farmhouse 
across the pasture.” 

^^I’m afraider of the cow,” said Frieda. ^^But 
I’ll go. We can hide the oars and oar-locks in the 
bushes.” 

Progress across the pasture was difficult, but when 
the road beyond was reached, both looked aghast 
at the muddy stream of it. 

Frieda rolled under the fence and stepped boldly 
in. Polly, gasping with laughter, started to climb 
over. 

You might as well roll,” advised Frieda. You 
can’t wetten yourself more than you are already, 
and it is pleasant to roll.” 

''That’s a matter of taste!” panted Polly, balanc- 
ing herself on the top of the fence. 


170 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


Suddenly Frieda gave a little shriek. Polly 
instantly fell forward into the mud, her skirt catch- 
ing on all the barbs in the fence and rending itself 
horribly. Frieda, full of wild exclamations of pity 
and remorse, helped her up and wiped the thickest 
of the mud from her once piquant face. 

“It was the cow,” she confessed. “I saw him 
coming from afar and I squealed. I did not know 
it would make you tumble, but I had to squeal. 
I fear cows. I have great alarm before them.” 

“I forgive you,” Polly was weak with mirth. 
“ But we’ve got to get into that house and telephone 
for some one to come out from town and take us 
home. We could never walk in these roads, and 
I should tie myself all up in knots if I walked in 
this shredded skirt. One more little spurt, Frieda, 
and we’re at the kitchen door!” 

It looked for a minute as though they would 
never get beyond the door. The respectable lady 
who met them there was scarcely to blame if she 
judged a little by outward appearance. Polly’s 
efforts to be suave were discounted by the muddy 
look of her eye, and the fact that water was dripping 
from her hair into her face. 

“Won’t you please let us come in and telephone 
for a carriage, and then wait for it?” she pleaded. 
“ I will gladly pay for the use of the ’phone.” Then 
it came over her sickeningly that she had no money 
with her. 


CAUGHT IN A SHOWER 


171 


Polly Osgood/^ she said. “My father is 
the Osgood of Osgood and Brown, Lawyers.^" 

“You don’t say! Come right* in. I’m Amanda 
B. Mills, and Lawyer Osgood has been my counsel 
for twenty-one years and more. I’d never a-kept 
you waitin’ out there a minute, if I’d known ’twas 
you. Is this your sister? Don’t wipe your shoes. 
Come right in. There’s other folks been caught 
in this rain, too.” 

She stepped back, still speaking, and invited 
them into the kitchen. Polly and Frieda, stumbling 
a little, blinded as they were by the water dripping 
from their hair, followed her. As they entered 
the room, there was a moment’s silence, then a 
burst of laughter and exclamations. 

“ For the love of Mike!” 

“Where did you rail) down from?” 

“0 dear, 0 dear! You ridiculous boys!” 

“What a guy you do look, Polly!” 

And slowly out of the babel of voices came a 
deep solemn: “ Donnerwetterr It was not a lady- 
like expression for a nice little German girl to use, 
but she knew that to American ears it sounded 
more harmless than her usual expletives, and, 
besides, she felt that if ever an occasion had war- 
ranted emphasis this was it. She and Polly, 
dripping, draggled, ragged, confronted with Alger- 
non, Max, Bert and Archie, almost as wet, grouped 
about Amanda B. Mills’ kitchen stove! 


172 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


Mrs. Mills’ astonishment at the boisterous greeting 
given her latest guests by the earlier ones was so 
manifest that Polly hastened to make all clear 
with introductions. 

'^How do you happen to be here?” she asked, 
as she finished, and Archie had made a Chester- 
fieldian bow, though the blue from his Andover cap 
had run into his fair hair. 

Fishing,” answered Bert. “ We drove out from 
town with our old nag, hitched her to a tree and 
fished. Thunder and lightning always rile the 
beast, and she just broke her tie-strap and oozed 
off home, and left us in her wake. We got this 
far, walking, but the road was such a juicy mess 
we decided to stop and telephone for some one to 
come out after us.” 

That’s what I am going to do. Where is the 
telephone, Mrs. Mills?” 

^‘0, do allow us to have the pleasure,” begged 
Max. '^They said they’d send out the ^ light 
bearers’ wagon,’ and it’s warranted to hold six. 
Besides it will be here in twenty minutes, and a 
private equipage would take longer.” 

“Well — it’s awfully kind of you. I’m sure! 
Aren’t you afraid we’ll make you wetter, though, 
if we ride in the same carriage? I am flooding the 
floor at this moment. It’s terrible, Mrs. Mills. 
Isn’t there a shed we could go into, and not make 
such a lot of work for you?” 


CAUGHT IN A SHOWER 


173 


Deary me, Miss Osgood, it’s a pleasure to me to 
have you here. But I wisht you’d come into the par- 
lor, all of you, you and your friends. I’ll lay papers 
down on the carpet, and you can just walk in.” 

They all protested, but as it soon became clear 
that it was as much a desire to display the beauties 
of her room as hospitality that prompted the 
invitation, they yielded and filed damply along the 
newspaper path into the gaudy parlor. The rain 
had stopped as suddenly as it had come up, and the 
sun was shining through the flowers in the lace 
curtains at the windows, and striking the bright 
pink morning-glory of the graphophone, which 
was the most conspicuous object in the room. 
Mrs. Mills, preceding her wet guests, turned the 
track a little past the telephone, resplendent in 
oak and nickel, so that the whole procession could 
be inside the room at once. Then she called their 
respectful attention to her framed marriage cer- 
tificate, and a similar document declaring the late 
Jacob Quincy Mills a Grand Something or Other 
in some lodge. Beneath these, on a shelf, were 
two tall lava jars filled with pampas grass, a pink 
china vase and a wreath of Easter lilies made of 
spangled paper. 

^^I’d like to show you the pictures in the family 
album,” said Mrs. Mills hospitably, resting her hand 
upon the fat plush volume on the center table, 
^‘but I don’t see how more’n two or three of you 


174 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIKLS 


can look at it at a time.’' She frowned a moment, 
puzzled. Then her face lighted. “I’ll just set 
the graphophone goin’ for the rest of you to enter- 
tain yourselves with,” she said eagerly, and in a 
moment the room was filled with the wheezing and 
strident strains of “You Look Good to Father,” 
against which Mrs. Mills raised her own voice in 
explanatory remarks to Archie and Frieda, who 
happened to be within the album’s range : 

“This is Mr. Mills’ sister’s first husband. That 
was their baby that died. This here is Miss Evelyn 
Mills of Chicago. She’s a singer there at the Or- 
pheum. She was my husband’s own cousin, 
once removed. This was my father’s aunt, — ” 
and so on. 

“Look at Algernon,” whispered Max to Polly. 
“He’s as contented as a lamb. He’s learning all 
there is to know about poultry, and doesn’t even 
know that infernal machine is going or that Mr. 
Mills had any relatives.” And sure enough Algernon, 
standing beside the bookcase, on a portion of the 
newspaper track, was reading, even devouring, 
the pages of a scientific farming journal, with an 
expression of perfect satisfaction on his face. 

The long half hour came at last to an end. Mrs. 
Mills conducted the procession back to the kitchen, 
helped tuck the girls into the robes, and disclaiming 
all right to their earnest thanks, watched the wagon 
out of sight. 


CAUGHT IN A SHOWER 


175 


Which is worse, a soaking or a fourth-class 
phonograph queried Archie from his corner. 

Bert, humming Waltz me Around Again, Willie,'' 
paused to remark : 

^‘Why, I rather liked that. Didn't the rest of 
you?" 

Polly shivered, not with cold alone. 

There is one song we all like, Bert," she sug- 
gested. “ Let's sing it now to keep our lungs from 
freezing. There's water enough all about to make 
it appropriate!" 

And in a minute four big male voices were shouting 
out the Boat Club song, Polly's soprano sweet 
and clear over the rest, while Frieda smiled en- 
couragement over the edge of the robe in which 
she was wrapped to her chin. 

“ We are the Winsted Boat Club, 

Dip the oar, dip the oar ! 

We are the Winsted Boat Club, 

Push out from shore ! 

“ We are the Winsted Boat Club, 

Paddle light, paddle light 1 
A-drifting, a -drifting beneath 
The sunset bright 1 " 


CHAPTER FOURTEEN 


AN INTERLUDE 

Algernon suffered more serious consequences 
from his wetting than the others did from theirs. 
His cold the next day prevented him from even 
attempting to go to the library. He wrote a note 
to Bertha, asking her to take his place, and then, 
groaning over his inability to get to the telephone, 
coaxed Elsmere to his side and sewed the note and 
the key to his blouse. 

^‘You cross your heart and hope to die you’ll 
go straight to Bertha’s and give her the key?” 

Cross my heart. Hope die. And you’ll give 
me six candies and a rocking-horse, and a ’lectric 
light and a house for my pigeons, and — ” 

'^I’ll give you something nice when you’ve done 
the errand, not before. Now hurry. The library 
can’t open till you get there. Think of it! All 
those people who want books waiting for you!” 
Coughing, Algernon fell back upon his hated pillows, 
and watched his messenger set out, more in hope 
than in confidence. 

It was Fate that prevented Elsmere’s fulfilling 


AN INTERLUDE 


177 


the trust, or rather, realizing the hope, for though 
he did go straight to Bertha’s house, he did not 
find her there. The maid who opened the door 
proved uncommunicative on the subject of Bertha’s 
whereabouts, and Elsmere sauntered away, un- 
decided what to do next. Ten feet from the gate, 
he stumbled upon a cat. At once a beautiful 
thought came to him. His own cat-pussy had gone 
away, tired of abuse and starvation irregularly 
combined with affection in the form of embraces 
and sugar, and Elsmere’ s heart had grieved for her. 
Here was another, and he could find out by actual 
experiment whether the velvet birds in the library 
would deceive her. Clutching the spitting, clawing 
creature to his bosom, he trotted off to the library. 

The door, of course, was locked. At first this 
fact discouraged Elsmere. Then he suddenly re- 
membered that he alone possessed means of en- 
trance. Putting the cat down on the pavement and 
stepping firmly on her tail to retain her, he fitted 
the key and triumphantly turned it in the lock. 

Once inside, he carried kitty to the closet where 
the birds at present hung, but his experiment 
was unsatisfactory, for she dug into his cheek with 
a fury which rendered it necessary to abandon the 
attempt. When the outraged animal had fled 
down the street, Elsmere looked about for fresh 
interests. He was in a mood to recognize oppor- 
tunities, and the unprotected condition of Algernon’s 


178 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


desk was suggestive. Never was a librarian more 
hostile to little prying fingers than A. Swinburne 
of the Winsted City Library. Elsmere felt a certain 
constraint, even alone with opportunity. 

The door opened and a very small person came in 
and walked over to the desk. 

“What you want?’^ asked Elsmere gravely. 

“Want a book.^^ 

“All right.^^ Elsmere walked to the shelves, 
took down a large volume of Sheridan’s Memoirs, 
and handed it to the child. Plainly much impressed 
by the size of her booty, she wrapped her arms 
about it and walked out, with admiring glances 
at Elsmere over her shoulder. Elsmere was pleased. 
That was easy. He climbed into Algernon’s chair. 
There were plenty of things to amuse one. Rubber 
stamps hold infinite possibilities of entertainment. 
So do colored cards arranged in trays. Elsmere 
shifted them all about, and stamped the date on 
everything in sight. 

Then came more Public, Mrs. Kittredge’s maid 
this time, returning a book and not wishing more. 
In fact, she laid down the book and departed with 
such would-be inconspicuous swiftness that if 
Elsmere had been more experienced, he would 
have known at once that the book was overdue. 

Then there was a lull. Even forbidden pleasure 
palls in time, if no one comes to remonstrate, and 
Elsmere was beginning to consider going home, 


AN INTERLUDE 


179 


when three boys, strolling that way, pressed their 
noses against the window-pane. Then they wan- 
dered in. 

What’s the kid doin’ in the liberrian’s chair?” 
asked one. Elsmere maintained a dignified silence, 
stamping the date rapidly and inkily on a pile of 
fresh catalog cards. 

Say, kid, where’s the liberrian?” 

I’m liberrian.” 

“ 0, come off. Where’s the real one? The feller • 
that knows it all, and walks like a seesaw.” 

‘^That’s Algy,” said Elsmere, with fraternal 
recognition. ^^Algy’s sick. I’m liberrian.” 

His questioner looked at him keenly. 

I say, kids, let’s us be liberrians. You put the 
little feller out.” 

The obedient henchmen put the howling Elsmere 
down from his seat, and exalted their chief. 

“I’m it,” said that worthy. “You pick out 
books you want, and I’ll fix ’em up.” 

The others, nothing loath, picked out certain 
extra-illustrated volumes which Algernon did not 
allow to circulate, and presented them at the desk, 
where they helped the presiding official to “fix 
’em up ” according to methods suggested by intuition 
combined with a little observation. 

“Say, now it’s my turn,” said one of the subor- 
dinates. “You git down and let me. Does that 
chair screw ’round?” 


180 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


It did, and in the ensuing scuffle, it not only 
screwed around but the top fell off, carrying three 
boys and an assortment of inks with it. 

At the same moment. Max and Archie entered 
to while away an idle half-hour with the daily 
paper. 

The big boys were prompt, but the little boys 
were prompter. The back door swung on its 
hinges and Max and Archie, puffing, ejaculating 
and wrathful, gave over attempts at capture for 
efforts at repair. Max going off to hunt up Algernon, 
while Archie gathered up scattered cards and mopped 
up the ink with dust-cloths. 

Seeking Algernon, Max ran across Mrs. Osgood 
making calls. Hearing his tale, she went back 
with him to the scene of disaster, and her capable 
fingers soon brought about some appearance of 
order, though the intricacies of card systems were 
beyond her. 

“I’d like to know who the rascals are that did 
it,” she said with emphasis; “and I can’t see how 
they got in. Where do you suppose Algernon is?” 

“He caught cold yesterday,” Archie told her, 
“but it doesn’t seem possible that he would send 
down anybody who would go off and leave the place 
open. I saw the little Weed boy, but I didn’t 
know the other two. They lit out like lightning, 
and I didn’t care to chase them all up Main Street. 
I was going to the Smiths’ to have a cup of tea!” 


AN INTERLUDE 


181 


Archie looked ruefully at his soiled garments and 
dark blue hands. “I wonder if we couldn’t get 
Bertha to come in here. She knows the ins and 
outs of all these fancy arrangements.” 

“Berfa isn’t to home/’ remarked a clear sweet 
voice from the closet. “Fat’s why I had to be 
liberrian!” 

Max threw open the door. Elsmere, on the 
wood-box, was contentedly jiggling the velvet 
birds, which had been the first cause of all the 
excitement. 

At the sight of Max’s angry face, he jumped up. 
“ I got to go,” he said hastily. “ I’m awful busy. 
Must find my cat-pussy. I losted her when she 
scratched me.” 

“Sensible cat,” growled Archie, taking Elsmere 
by the collar. “ I wish she had losted you. Here, 
Mrs. Osgood, this seems to be the key to the mystery. 
At least it’s the key to something.” He lifted the 
key dangling from Elsmere’s blouse. 

“ Algy sewed it on me,” explained the child. 

Mrs. Osgood sighed. “So Algernon is sick, and 
he sent you after Bertha, and she wasn’t at home. 
I see. Max, you and Archie needn’t wait. I’ll 
take the responsibility of closing the library for 
to-day, and I’d like a private talk with this young 
gentleman, if you are willing.” 

Elsmere’s eyes brightened. 

“Will you pank me?” he asked hopefully. “Dr. 


182 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


Helen pank me when I eat pills. SoP’ In his 
effort to illustrate, he bent so nearly double that 
he fell over on his nose, and set it bleeding. Max 
and Archie caught up their hats and fled, leaving 
Mrs. Osgood to act upon inspiration. 

Half an hour later, having by strenuous effort 
regained something of their former freshness of 
appearance, the two boys dropped in upon the group 
on the Three Gables lawn. They stopped a minute 
to take in the details of the pretty picture. Under 
a great apple tree, Catherine had set her tea-table 
with its pretty accessories. In comfortable chairs 
about it, sat the Boat Club girls, embroidering soft 
colored things or simply “visiting.^’ Frieda was 
telling a story, and the others were listening at- 
tentively as she stumbled a little now and then 
in her desire to express herself rapidly. 

“And he was there in the water, all the above 
part of him, and I held his waist. I pulled greatly 
and in he came lickety split, and what do you think 
he said? ^I big fish, Frieda. Pull me in and 
fy me.^ 

“That was Elsmere, I’ll wager,” cried Max, 
approaching with Archie and giving Catherine his 
hand. “Pm glad you were talking about him. 
Miss Frieda, for we’re full of the subject. He never 
said the expected thing in his life. Drowning and 
spanking are what he needs ; the only trouble is that 
he likes nothing better. But he’s beaten his record 


AN INTERLUDE 


183 


to-day/^ and while Archie dropped upon a rug near 
I Hotspur, and incidentally near Bess, who was 
I prettier than ever, and working on an Andover 
pillow. Max received a cup of tea from Catherine's 
hands and told his story of the afternoon’s episode 
to a deeply interested audience. 

, ^‘Poor Algernon!” sighed Polly. ^^That will 
make him so much extra work, and he must have 
I his patience tried by that dreadful baby all the 
time.” 

“Does no one punish Elsmere except the neigh- 
j bors?” asked Frieda, whose opinion of the lawless- 
ness of American children was being strengthened 
I daily by Elsmere’s performances. Winifred an- 
! swered, laughing. 

“His mother made up her mind to, once. She 
told me about it. She told him she would not be 
his mother that day for he had been so bad she 
was ashamed to own him. Some one had told her 
that was a sure way to crush a child. But Elsmere 
was only interested. He called her ^ Mamma’ 
and ‘Mummy dear’ to catch her napping, but she 
wouldn’t answer. By and by a caller came in, 
and Elsmere walked up to her and pointed at his 
mother and said: ‘This isn’t my mother. She 
is just Mrs. Swinburne, but I love her!’ And Mrs. 
Swinburne picked him up and kissed him and 
cried, and I don’t believe she ever tried again to 
make him mind.” 


184 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


“ I'm glad Perdita and Peter are such a biddable 
sort/' said Polly. don't know what we'd do 
with two little imps around. They are quite 
good, almost always. Perdita is mischievous, but 
Peter keeps her straight. He seems to feel the 
whole burden of her. If she starts to do anything 
naughty, he says: ^Perdita, you mustn't,' and 
Perdita doesn't." 

It's lucky Perdita hasn't Elsmere for a brother," 
suggested Dot. “There'd be no living in Winsted 
if she had, for even Peter can't keep a wicked look 
out of her eye at times." 

Room for a tired man in your party, children?" 
Dr. Harlow joined the group. Max vacated the 
long chair he was occupying, and every one welcomed 
the doctor with a word or smile. They all loved 
him, and nothing pleased them better than to have 
him spend an hour with them. To-day, he was 
plainly tired, and while Catherine prepared tea 
for him, Frieda whispered to Hannah. 

‘^I wonder if he would," said Hannah. ^‘Wini- 
fred, will you sing, if I bring out my fiddle?" 

Winifred never refused to sing, and Hannah 
slipped into the house, tuned her dear Geige and 
brought it out. Then she played very softly, 
while Winifred's sweet voice sang one quiet song 
after another. Dr. Harlow's tired face relaxed 
and, leaning back in the chair, he presently dropped 
off to sleep. The young people were very still, 



“ Frieda was telling a story and the others were listening 
attentively.” — Page 184. 



AN INTERLUDE 


185 


and Winifred smiled softly as she sang. Dr. Helen, 
coming out from the office after an interview with 
a wearying patient, stood in her turn watching. 
The blues and pinks and greens of the girls’ frocks, 
the boys’ white flannels and the great tree spreading 
above them, made a pretty background and setting 
for the central group of Hannah bending her brown 
head earnestly over her violin, and Winifred lifting 
her delicate little face while she sang. 

“Bravo!” shouted a big voice behind Dr. Helen. 
Bert, on his way home from one of his spasmodic 
“jobs,” dropped in to say “Hello!” and incidentally 
break the spell. Dr. Harlow' woke and looked 
guiltily about him. His wife joined him, and Max 
and Archie shook the kinks out of their long legs, 
as the girls began to gather up their sewing and 
flutter about Catherine with good-bys. 

“I say. Miss Hannah,” said Bert, making his way 
to her. “I didn’t know you played. That’s a 
jolly little fiddle you’ve got there. Do you know 
the Merry Widow waltzes?” 

Hannah laughed. “ I don’t,” she confessed, “ but 
perhaps I could learn them. Bring them up some 
time and I’ll try.” 


CHAPTER FIFTEEN 


SUNDAY SCHOOL 

Hannah, are you awake 

Hannah turned over, and opened an eye un- 
certainly. 

^^No, I guess so.’’ 

^^Well, do wake up and look at me. Isn’t it 
awful?” 

Hannah unscrewed the other eye, and blinked 
blindly for a minute. 

What is it?” she asked, yawning. 

“My Qheek. Can’t you see? Toothache. It’s 
all swollen up, and it hurts.” 

Hannah roused herself a little more, then shut her 
eyes quickly. She didn’t want to laugh at Catherine. 

“ Can’t you do anything for it?” 

“I suppose so, but it won’t go down in time for 
Sunday-school, and who will take my class?” 

Hannah groaned. “Who would ever get up in 
the middle of the night and worry about a Sunday- 
school class, when they had a toothache? It’s 
unnormal I Go back to bed, unless there is some- 
thing I can do for you. Can’t I call your mother?” 


SUNDAY SCHOOL 


187 


“iJ'o, there's no use bothering her. I know 
what to do well enough, but I am so worried about 
the class." 

“ 0, go along to sleep. I'll take your old class." 

Hannah was asleep herself before Catherine had 
finished sighing with grateful relief and returned 
to her own room. 

An hour later, Hannah woke with a start to the 
consciousness that something unpleasant had hap- 
pened. Almost immediately that vagueness gave 
way to irritating clearness. She got up and peeped 
into Catherine's room. She was sleeping, but the 
swollen cheek left no room for hope that the whole 
episode was a nightmare. Hannah dressed quietly, 
frowning the while at her unconsidered offer of the 
early morning. 

I do think this town would be twice as nice if 
there weren't any children in it. They spoil every- 
thing. I never taught anybody anything in all 
my life. And I never went to Sunday-school 
either, except in Germany. She will just have to 
get some one else," she fussed. '^A promise like 
that doesn't count. I was so sleepy I didn't know 
what I was saying." 

With unwelcome plainness she recalled the facts 
that Dorcas and Polly had classes of their own, 
Bertha and Agnes were out of town, and Dot and 
Win and Bess belonged to another denomination. 

<^Why couldn't she have waited till Alice came? 


188 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


She^s always ready for things like that. 0, dear. 
I suppose I’ll have to try. Catherine would keep 
a promise herself, if she made it in delirium tremens!” 

She stole down stairs before any one was stirring, 
save Inga in the kitchen, found a Bible and took 
it over to the window-seat, where she opened it 
gingerly. 

“I wonder where they begin,” she thought. 

Might as well look Genesis over first, to refresh 
my memory.” She spread the thin pages open, 
and began to read. Outside the open window the 
birds were noisily celebrating the sunny morning. 
Inga ground the coffee. A bell rang for early 
service somewhere. Hannah’s eyes wandered from 
the page. 

‘ And there was evening and there was morning, 
a second day.’ It sounds just like poetry,” she 
thought. But what could I tell youngsters 
about it? They would be sure to want to know 
just how the waters were kept off the firmaments. 
I hope — ^no, I know, Elsmere is in that class!” 
In silent horror, Hannah sat staring out of the 
window. Memories of Catherine’s Sunday dinner 
talk swarmed back into her mind. She had thought 
the stories amusing: how Elsmere had chewed gum 
and put it into the collection envelope; how Perdita 
Osgood had described in vivid detail her seasick- 
ness of a summer before; how the little Hamil- 
ton girl had asked personal and embarrassing 


SUNDAY SCHOOL 


189 


questions of Catherine herself. It had sounded 
funny, when Catherine told the tales in her quiet 
way, — but to be alone with them for an hour! 
Hannah^s heart failed her entirely. She shut the 
Bible and marched up to Catherine's room. Cather- 
ine was dressing, as far away from the mirror as 
possible. 

^‘Hannah, dear,^^ she called, seeing the brown 
hair and blue eyes through a crack in the door. 
^^Do come in. You don’t know what a dear you 
were to take that class. I went straight to sleep, 
and didn’t mind the pain nearly so much after 
that. It worried me so. You see, the Sunday- 
school is so small and I had been over and over 
it in my mind, and couldn’t think of any one who 
would do. It’s the last class any one is ever willing 
to take.” 

^^Why?” asked Hannah, her prepared refusal 
suspended. 

0, because it’s so big, and there are all ages of 
little people in it. But you’ll do beautifully. 
Children always love you. Do you know what the 
lesson is?” 

Hannah hesitated. Then a glance at Catherine’s 
distorted face made her ashamed of herself, and she 
answered bravely : 

''No. What is it? I’ll have to study up a lot.” 

"You’ll find plenty of material in those leaflets 
and books in the pile there on the table by my 


190 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


Bible. It^s about the Good Shepherd. And if 
you’re going down, will you ask mother to come in 
before breakfast? I don’t believe I’ve been doing 
the right things.” 

So Hannah, laden with Helps and Hints, went 
slowly down stairs again, and after having sent 
Dr. Helen up to see her afflicted daughter, resumed 
her place in the window-seat and put her mind 
resolutely on the subject of the lesson. 

^ Bring in the 23rd Psalm,’ ” she read in one 
suggestion. That’s good. I know that much 
and I can make them repeat it the whole hour, 
if nothing else comes into my head. How is she, 
Dr. Helen?” 

Dr. Helen smiled ruefully. She will be all 
right after a while, but it is a pity, isn’t it? You 
were a good girl to relieve her mind about that 
class. She cares so much about it. Good morning, 
Frieda ! Hast du gut geschlafenf ’ ’ 

The Three Gables household was a church-going 
one. Hannah, in her white gown with sweet- 
peas scattered over it, met the doctors in the hall. 

^‘Is Frieda late?” she asked, putting on her 
gloves. “ It isn’t like her.” 

“ No, but she begged so hard to stay with Catherine 
whose state seems to waken deeps of pity in her, 
that I couldn’t refuse. She said she would do 
anything for her, even to reading poetry!” 

They all laughed, for Frieda’s English reading 


SUNDAY SCHOOL 


191 


was distinctly lacking in smoothness, and her render- 
ing of poetry would doubtless be harrowing. 

That would hurt Catherine more than the 
toothache, said Hannah, but they will find some- 
thing better to do,’^ and she walked sedately down 
the path between the doctors, her Bible and Quar- 
terly in her hands, wondering if martyrs on the way 
to the stake chatted on indifferent topics, and 
noticed birds and bees and grasshoppers. 

Meanwhile Catherine and Frieda up stairs were 
surprising themselves and each other. The first 
glimpse of Catherine's swollen cheek had roused 
Frieda’s sense of mirth, but compassion for physical 
pain followed quickly. 

Ach weh! Weh! Schade! Schade!” she had 
murmured in a deep sympathetic tone, which 
Catherine found unexpectedly soothing. Accus- 
tomed as she had always been to brisk remedial 
measures, and beyond those, to wordless pity and 
a deliberate ignoring of the evil, she was interested 
and touched by this demonstration. She had felt 
shy with Frieda from the first, wishing so earnestly 
to know her well and win her love that she could 
not be perfectly simple and natural with her. 
This shyness had combined with the little aloofness, 
which every one felt in Catherine, to shut Frieda s 
heart. But this morning the barriers were down. 
Catherine, instead of being perfect, exquisite, was 
nothing short of hideous. The agent had proved 


192 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


that she could look absurd. Here she was shown 
mortal to the point of needing help from Frieda. 
What made Hannah feel awkward and useless, 
caused Frieda to come to the front, competent 
and tender. She made Catherine cozy with pillows, 
and sat beside her, speaking, in tones which carried 
healing and comfort, of all sorts of interesting 
and delightful things and places. She told stories 
of her school in Germany, of her home and Hannah^s 
visit, of her little friend who had been to a birthday 
party at the palace, of the strange “church sociaF' 
to which Hannah had taken her in Berlin, of her 
rides with Herr Karl in the Tiergarten, rapturous 
descriptions of the Tiergarten itself, dropping un- 
consciously into German phrases, her eyes shining 
and her cheeks taking on an unwontedly charming 
color, while Catherine lay and listened, entranced, 
as though she were in a world where pain had no 
power. 

It was not so pleasant at the little gray church. 
Hannah, all through the sermon, wrestled mentally 
with the parable. It seemed to her it was a very 
slippery parable! She would no sooner highly 
resolve to hold it till she had wrenched its moral 
from it, and reduced that moral to terms which 
the youngest babe could surely comprehend, than 
she would find that the elusive subject had slipped 
from her grasp, and her whole mind would be fixed 
upon the problem of how long it would take a fly to 


SUNDAY SCHOOL 


193 


crawl all the way across the expansive back of Mrs. 
Graham, who sat in the pew in front. 

She went through the service like a well- 
constructed automaton, rising, sitting, singing even, 
with no notion of what she was doing or why she 
was doing it. She bowed her head with the others 
for the benediction, and then the soft stirring and 
cheerful tones of greeting about her, told her that 
her hour was come. - 

The superintendent directed her to Miss Smithes 
class.^^ To her final dismay, she found that that 
meant a seat on the platform in full view of the 
congregation. The little church was barely more 
than a chapel, and the chorus choir had two pews 
upon the platform. Here, it seemed, for purposes 
of segregation, Catherine held her flock during the 
interminable opening exercises, after which she led 
them to their own room in the basement. As one 
in a dream, Hannah went to the seat pointed out 
to her. Margaret Kittredge and Peter and Perdita 
were already present. The little Hamilton girl came 
in with two unknown others. Then more and more. 
The little girls settled themselves fussily, getting up 
frequently to crush their stiff starchy skirts into place. 
Their wide-brimmed hats interfered when they moved' 
and they were never still. The little boys huddled 
together, and punched each, other without motive, 
crowding each other off the seat, and showing the 
pennies they held in their moist little palms. 


194 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


The superintendent tapped his bell. The noisy 
groups of the Sunday-school at large lapsed into 
an approach to order, the teachers staring con- 
sciously ahead with an excess of propriety, and the 
children alertly refraining from anything more 
riotous than fumbling with hymn-books. Hannah^s 
own charges felt the change in the atmosphere, 
and quietness fell upon them. She welcomed it 
gratefully, aware that it was in no wise due to her 
own effort, and spreading a hymn-book open for the 
first song, stooped to allow the small boy next her 
to look on, then lent her voice as freely as she could 
to the chirping chorus. As the exercises continued, 
she became rather more accustomed to her prominent 
seat, and, inspired by Dorcas Morehouse^s austere 
countenance in the front row below her, she even 
turned once and looked down the squirming row 
beside her, shaking her head gravely at Perdita, 
who was showing signs of uprising. Peter caught 
the look of reproach and passed it on to his twin 
with interest, hauling her into her place with a tug 
which resulted in a loud parting of gathers. The 
Bible reading over, '‘birthdays'^ were called for, 
and the little Hamilton girl trotted importantly 
forward to the superintendent's table, where she 
let seven pennies drop from her fat fingers into a 
yawning frog, receiving in exchange a printed text. 
Acknowledging this courtesy with a jerky bow, she 
switched her way back to the pew she had left, 


SUNDAY SCHOOL 


195 


and crumpled herself into a space not half wide 
enough to hold her. The minister rose to lead in 
prayer. Hannah bowed her head devoutly, trusting 
in the power of example. She was conscious of the 
heavy breathing of Margaret beside her, due to the 
unwonted strain of pressing her chin close to her 
chest. The minister’s voice droned on and on, 
but Hannah was sending up a fervent petition of her 
own, and for a brief space heard nothing. Then — 
Bang! I want to sit by Her.” There was a thud 
of falling bodies, and Elsmere, late but ardent, 
plumped himself into the place at Hannah’s right, 
from which he had forcibly removed a little boy 
with fat red legs, which were now waving in the air. 
Hannah felt herself as red as the evicted legs, and 
as the prayer came to an abrupt stop, would have 
given worlds to be able to flee and hide her mortified 
face. 

At a tap from the bell in the superintendent’s 
hand, the class slipped to the floor, shook out its 
skirts and grasped its caps. The organ started 
up wheezily, and every one burst into song: “See 
the mighty host advancing, Satan leading on!” 
as Hannah, heading the wiggling line of wandering- 
eyed children, got somehow off the platform and 
into a little basement room which had been equipped 
for primary work with chairs of varying heights, 
a great colored chart and a mission map. 

There she breathed more freely. Whatever the 


196 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


next half-hour had in store for her, she would at 
least be alone with it. These fifteen wigglers had 
become part of her. She must blush for them 
as for herself, but they were not onlookers, anyhow. 
The mere absence of Dorcas’ gaze was refreshment. 

There was a brief period of settling into chairs, 
some mild squabbling over two desirable blue ones, 
a little dispute as to the privilege of passing the 
envelope, and at last Hannah found that something 
definite was expected of her. The chart showed 
a brightly-colored shepherd holding in his arms 
a weak lamb. 

^‘Say, won’t that lamb kick him? They’re awful 
leggy,” suggested an interested youth in the first row. 

^‘1 seen a lamb onct,” announced his neighbor, 
rocking perilously on the two back legs of her 
chair. “It was a ram lamb and it butted me in 
my stomach, it did. Hurt. Hurt awful.” 

“Huh!” grunted Perdita. “I don’t believe it 
hurt as much as when my mother sewed my finger 
in the sewing-machine. Did your stomach bleed?” 

“Children,” said Hannah desperately. “Don’t 
talk, please. No, Peter, not another word from 
anybody. Now who can tell the Golden Text?” 

• Dead silence. 

“Doesn’t any one know the Golden Text?” 

“Miss Smith doesn’t do that way,” suggested 
some one. “She always says: ^ Peter, you may 
tell us the Golden Text.’ ” 


SUNDAY SCHOOL 


197 


^^Veiy well/^ agreed Hannah hurriedly. “Peter, 
you may tell us the Golden Text.^^ 

“Let me/' cried Elsmere. “I know 'bout lambs. 
Mary had a little lamb, fleeciswhitissnow." 

“Elsmere," said Hannah sternly. “I asked 
Peter to tell us the Golden Text." 

“ Mine is a walker," said Peter loudly. 

Hannah looked mystified. 

“Pooh!" remarked the Hamilton girl loftily. 
“That ain't this Sunday's. ^Wine is a mocker' 
was to-morrow's. 'Tain't this Sunday's." 

“What is this Sunday's?" asked Hannah hope- 
fully. “Doesn't anybody know? am' — don't 

you remember? ‘ I am the good — ' " 

“I am the good — " Peter got so far and then 
stopped, stolid. 

“I know," cried Elsmere once more. “Put 
in his thumb, pull out a plum, good boy am I!" 

The others snickered, and Hannah bit her lip. 
“No. am the good shepherd.' It was Jesus 
who said it. Now all of you say it together." 

Lamblike, they followed her lead, and she suc- 
ceeded in passing over several minutes. But they 
soon grew restive again, and one little hand pawed 
the air. 

“Well, what is it?" 

“The Grahams is coming to our house to dinner." 

“ That's nice. Now we will talk about the shep- 
herd psalm. How many of you know it?" 


198 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


There was a moment of doubt. “ Shall not want?” 
ventured one of the older ones presently. 

“Yes, that’s it exactly/’ said Hannah gladly. 
“You’ve all heard it lots of times. Now I’ll recite 
it for you, and then you can tell me what it means.” 

With the Bible prudently open to save her from 
any possible embarrassment at a sudden lapse of 
memory, she began slowly to recite the psalm, 
pausing for explanatory comments as she went 
along. 

“ I was in a valley onct,” said a sleepy boy’^Nyho 
had contributed nothing so far to the morning’s 
entertainment. “ I fell off’n the dock and the boat 
was dost up to me, and that was a valley.” 

“How’d you get out?” asked several with interest. 

“ Man pulled me out,” and the speaker subsided. 

Hannah stole a glance at her watch, as she finished 
the psalm. She had strung it out as long as she 
could, but there were still several minutes to dis- 
pose of. 

“Now I wonder who can tell me what that was 
all about?” she asked, with feigned sprightliness. 
“ I think you can, the little girl with the red dress. 
What’s your name? 0, yes, Gwendolen.” 

Every one turned to look at Gwendolen. She 
stuck her finger in her mouth, presumably to stem 
the tide of speech, for as she withdrew it the words 
fell out over one another all in one breath. 

“Don’t want anyfing to eat. Lay down in the 


SUNDAY SCHOOL 


199 


grass an^ roll. Put kerosene on my head. Can’t 
git any more in my cup, all spillin’ over.” 

The door opened and once more the superinten- 
dent tapped his bell. Hannah, with a deep sigh 
of thankfulness, marshalled her troop and drove 
them back to their place, taking her martyr’s 
seat in their midst. 

Through the reading of the secretary’s report 
and the singing of three stanzas of the closing 
hymn, they behaved fairly well, subdued by the 
drowsy atmosphere of air unchanged since the 
morning service. The last stanza of the hymn was 
nearly sung. Elsmere rose to his feet and plucked 
Peter by the hair of his head. Hannah cast an 
appealing glance at the superintendent, who was 
nearer the offender than herself. He took a quick 
stride forward, with his hand uplifted, just as the 
last wailing sound of the hymn died away. His 
hand on Elsmere’s collar, he observed the con- 
gregation standing with bowed heads. They had 
misinterpreted his gesture. Casting a look of under- 
standing at Hannah, gripping Elsmere tightly, 
he pronounced the expected benediction, and as 
the audience broke up into home-going groups, 
set the boy down with emphasis. 

^^We don’t usually close with a prayer,” he said 
to Hannah, ^^but they thought that was what I 
meant, when I stepped forward. I nearly throttled 
the child but — ” 


200 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


“I think you will be forgiven/^ said Hannah 
firmly. ^‘Miss Smith will be here next Sunday, 
but I, I am thankful to say, shall not!’^ 


PART THREE 
TOGETHER AT LAST 


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CHAPTER SIXTEEN 


ALICE ON THE WAY 

Out on a Dakota prairie, in a corner, of a motion- 
less Pullman sat a short girl in a plain blue suit, 
her grey eyes behind thick glasses bent upon the 
pages of a red leather book. 

^Beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, 
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.^ 
She read the words over and over, and the book 
fell from her hands as she looked out on the limit- 
less fields. ^ Beauty for ashes.^ What a striking 
way of putting it! ^The oil of joy’ — ^why, I wonder 
what we are stopping here so long for. It doesn’t 
look like a station.” 

And suddenly Alice Prescott sat up straight and 
looked about her, alert and alive. 

The porter came slowly in response to her repeated 
ring. “ What’s the matter? Why, there’s an 
engine off the track a little ways off, and our crew 
and engine has gone to help. No, nobody hui*t. 
Just a freight engine. Don’t know how long. 
Mebbe one hour. Mebbe two.” 

‘^But I’ll miss my connections!” 


204 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


Too bad, Miss/^ The porter looked at her with 
lazy curiosity. The train had already been at a 
standstill for ten minutes, and every other woman 
on the car had put him through a catechism long 
ago. This girl looked awake and practical. How 
could a porter understand that the mere beauty 
of words and ideas could render one unconscious 
to delays in transportation? 

Alice rose and walked up and down the aisle. 
Three women, rather overdressed, were playing 
cards in a remote section. A man slept in a corner. 
She went to the door, and seeing groups of passengers 
standing outside along the track, jumped down 
from the high step and walked a little, tasting the 
fresh air with pleasure. The country offered nothing 
to her gaze. Her eye, accustomed to mountains, 
found endless level stretches harrowing rather than 
soothing. She recalled a Dakota girl at Dexter 
who was always telling of the beauty of the prairie, 
and longing for it. “I suppose it’s a matter of 
habit,” she thought to herself. “ There is certainly 
something that kindles your imagination in such 
a sight. It would be dreary if it weren’t cultivated, 
but it must be wonderful to see a whole country 
reclaimed from wildness and made productive. 
‘Beauty for ashes’ 0!” and with a little shiver of 
pleasure, she repeated the lines that had so charmed 
her a few minutes before. “ ‘The spirit of heavi- 
uess.’ What a strange thing to include in the 


ALICE ON THE WAY 


205 


same message with the vengeance of the Lord! 
It makes blues and dullness seem so important. 
It doesn^t say anything here about Christ’s coming 
to heal bodily suffering or sin,' and it does explicitly 
say he is to cure the blues. Isn’t that interesting?” 

Her walk had brought her to the first of the line 
of day-coaches by this time, and she glanced up 
at the listless faces leaned against the dirty window- 
panes. As she passed, each pair of eyes rested 
wearily on her figure. Suddenly a thought struck 
her. Blues and dullness! Where were they ever 
more to the fore than here? She entered the car 
impulsively and stood looking people over. She 
spoke to the nearest woman. 

^^It’s a nuisance having to wait so, isn’t it? 
Wouldn’t you like to come out for a little walk?” 

“No,” snapped the woman, “I wouldn’t.” Alice 
flushed, then smiled and went on down the aisle. 
Evidently her mission of good fairy was not going 
to be successful at the start. “Some people want 
to be ^ heavy,’ ” she thought. “I’ll take some one 
who looks as though she wanted to be lightened 
up. Here’s one.” 

The red-eyed cindery young woman who was 
curled up in her seat, dabbing her cheeks with a 
smeary handkerchief, looked as though any change 
would be a welcome one. Alice stopped resolutely. 
“ Can. I do anything for you?” she asked, not at all 
sure of her reception. 


206 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


The girl lifted her eyes and swallowed a sob. 
'‘Nobud-d-dy csm” she wailed; going to be 

m-m-married!’^ 

Alice’s face twitched. Won’t you tell me 
about it?” she asked. ^‘Cheering folks up” was 
proving an intricate business. ^‘If the garment 
of praise doesn’t fit any one,” she thought, “I’ll 
just have to carry it back and wear it myself.” 

The bride gulped and spoke again : 

“It’s to be to-night and I’ve missed my train at 
the Junction already, and I don’t know what to do. 
Everybody was invited and the supper won’t 
keep, and I lost my solid silver hatpin, anyway.” 

“Can’t you come out and walk with me?” sug- 
gested Alice. “The air will make you feel better. 
Bathe your eyes and come.” 

Still tearful, but manifestly a little relieved, the 
bride obeyed and, once out on the prairie, poured 
forth her tale. She had at the last moment decided 
she could not bear to be married without a veil, 
and had gone early in the morning to the nearest 
town to invest her last money in that frivolity. 
Fate was against her, however, for there were no 
veils in the shops, and a persuasive milliner had 
induced her to give up her cherished notion and buy 
a hat instead. “And I’m most sure the ribbon’s 
cotton-back,” she sighed. “I don’t know why 
I bought it, anyway. That’s always the way with 
me. I think I know what I’ll get, and then they 


ALICE ON THE WAY 


207 


coax me into getting something different. Once 
I went down town to buy me a pair of black stock- 
ings, and I got an Alice blue silk waist, instead. 
Stephen he thinks it^s funny and he says hedl see 
to the shopping when we^re married. I wisht he’d 
come to-day.” 

Wouldn’t it be fun if he had?” said Alice. 

There is a minister on the train, and we could have 
had a lovely wedding out here!” 

This romantic idea cheered them both for a time, 
but its power was brief. There were signs of a tear- 
shower imminent, and Alice was at her wits’ end for 
devices to adjust that garment of praise to fit. 

Then came a great inspiration. Let’s walk to 
the Junction,” she exclaimed. ^'I’ll go with you, 
and you can get a team there, and drive home.” 

But you’d miss your train.” 

“0, no, I wouldn’t. It has to come right along 
there behind us, and I could jump on the cow- 
catcher if it came; but it can’t come without an 
engine, and there isn’t one in sight, and it’s only 
two miles to your Junction, you say. That won’t 
be anything of a walk. Go and get your hat-box.” 

The hat-box was not all. Though the journey 
was to be only a short one, the bride had taken a 
satchel with her of a type Alice especially loathed. 
This was a trifle, however, to a spirit so bent on 
adventure, and Alice seized the ^^grip” and started 
off at a brisk pace. 


208 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


“I can^t walk so fast/^ said the bride fretfully. 

My shoes hurt.^^ 

Alice looked from her own broad-soled street 
shoes to the high-heeled, misshapen things on her 
companion's feet. The latter looked at them, too, 
with pride and affection. “ Tm going to wear them 
at the wedding and I thought that, being they was 
so tight, Fd best break 'em in a little first." 

“I see," and Alice moderated her own pace to 
the hobbling gait of the wedding slippers. Two 
miles seemed more of an undertaking now and 
she began to wonder if she had been rash in her 
suggestion. '^I'll carry it through," she said to 
herself. “I know I can, and I won't back down. 
We'll get tired if we keep going without rests," 
she said aloud. ^‘So let's walk ten minutes and 
then rest. You can tell by your watch." 

The bride brightened at the allusion to the great 
plated and chased timepiece suspended from a 
rhinestone dove very near to her breast-bone. 

Steve give me that when we was first engaged," 
she explained, and Alice smiled indulgently. “He 
give me my bracelet for Christmas, and all his 
friends give me bangles." She jingled the thing 
proudly as she spoke. “ There's thirty-four of 'em." 

“Thirty-four friends! He must be a popular 
man!" said Alice. 

“0, he is, awful. And he's the handsomest! 
You just ought to see him." 


ALICE ON THE WAY 


209 


^^The garment of praise is settling into place 
without a wrinkle/^ thought Alice. ‘‘I hope she 
won’t take it all, for I may need a corner of it myself, 
to console me for this abominable bag, and the 
tinkle of that bracelet. I suppose she would think 
it was finer than the jade one Mrs. Langdon gave 
me. Ajid I wonder what she would think if she 
knew my necklace was under my dress, so it wouldn’t 
show in travelling. 0, well, she’s a nice little thing, 
and I hope Steve will be good to her.” 

^^I’m afraid you’ll be all beat out helping me,” 
said the bride remorsefully, as they paused once 
more for a rest. “I don’t know how I’ll ever 
thank you, anyhow.” 

'^0, that’s all right,” and Alice seized the bag 
and bore it mightily forward. 

^'0, dear,” sighed the bride presently. ^'There’s 
somebody driving this way. I wish they was going 
the other, and would give us a lift.” 

The black speck down the road, which here ran 
alongside the track, expanded rapidly, developing 
into a smart buggy with two good horses, and a 
man driving. He leaned forward as he neared 
them, and suddenly reined in the horses with a jerk. 

'"Great Guns!” he shouted, throwing the reins 
over the dashboard, and leaping out over the wheel. 

"It’s Steve,” cried the bride in a rapture, and 
Alice pinched herself with delight as Steve embraced 
his lady. 


210 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


^‘However in the world did you get off here?^^ 
he asked, releasing her enough to reply. 

^‘How did you?” she answered, and he laughed. 
^‘0, I thought I’d drive over to the Junction to 
meet you and carry you home, and I heard about 
the train being stalled out here and couldn’t get 
out for hours, so I drove on, that’s all. But the 
idea of you hoofing it in!” He put, his head back 
and laughed loudly. 

His fiancee then remembered Alice and introduced 
her, telling Steve of her kind interest. He was all 
cordiality, and offered to give her a ride back to 
the train. 

^‘No, no,” she protested. “I love to walk. 
And do hurry along home and have the wedding. 
I’m so glad it all turned out all right; and you’re 
feeling happier, aren’t you?” she asked the girl. 

Steve put his arm around his little bride gently. 
^‘I guess she won’t ever feel bad again. I shan’t 
let her go off alone any more. And thank you for 
what you done. I shan’t forget it. Say, couldn’t 
you stop off now for the wedding?” 

“0, do,” begged the bride, and Alice had to 
refuse tenderly. She watched them get into the 
buggy, and drive happily away, waving to her as 
they did so. Then she turned back to Jier train, 
and her own car. 

One of the card-playing women was tired and 
inclined to be sociable. So Alice sat with her, by 


ALICE ON THE WAY 


211 


invitation, and listened to the history of her fam- 
ily’s diseases and operations, and her difficulties 
with servants, till the train was started once more 
and the rumble of the cars resumed their interrupted 
song of “ Getting nearer, getting nearer.’’ 

must hear it that way every minute,” Alice 
thought, as she took her own seat again, and while 
the lamps were lighted, watched in the windows 
not the rushing landscape but her own face. “It 
would be so easy to hear ^ Getting farther,’ and think 
of leaving home for nine whole months, but I’ll just 
remember Hannah and Catherine and Frieda and 
dear Dexter, — ^and that will keep the garment from 
slipping off my shoulders.” 


CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 


FINDING A VOCATION 

On the second afternoon after Aliceas arrival, the 
four girls walked down to the post-office to mail their 
letters, Catherine having written to Miss Lyndesay, 
while the other three wrote to their mothers. Now, 
pleasantly conscious of duty performed, they strolled 
idly along the street. 

It was ‘‘library afternoon’^ and Catherine had 
a book to exchange for a busy neighbor, who much 
enjoyed the library privileges, but seldom had time 
to choose her own books. The girls turned in at the 
library door, which was hospitably open. Several 
people were waiting at the desk, while Algernon 
busily attended to their wants. Catherine laid 
down her book and went over to the fiction shelves 
to find something to take its place. The other 
girls wandered about, looking at the soldierly rows 
of books, and at the effective picture bulletin which 
Bess had made to celebrate the Fourth of July, 
a list of patriotic books under crossed flags, — ^turned 
the pages of the half dozen magazines on the read- 
ing-table, and then, by common consent gathered 


FINDING A VOCATION 


213 


in the little alcove devoted to children's books. 

Three copies of Alice in Wonderland!’’ exclaimed 
Alice. ^^That seems a rather large proportion 

Catherine, who had secured Friendship Village, 
and was rejoicing in her good fortune, answered 
the criticism. 

^^You see, each member of the club selected a 
book for the first order, and Dot and Max both chose 
Alice and neither would give up, so we finally 
ordered two; and then somebody gave us a copy 
afterward.^^ 

“What did you choose?^^ 

Catherine laughed. “ Can’t you guess?” 

Hannah pounced on a big copy of Pyle’s Robin 
Hood. 

“This, of course. Do you remember how you 
gave it to me to read the first evening I was at your 
house?” 

Frieda had been looking the shelves over as if 
seeking something, and now straightened up, dis- 
appointed. 

“Nowhere is there the Laetus Sorie Mea book,” 
she said sadly. 

“That’s so!” exclaimed Catherine, regretfully.. 
“We’ll put it on the suggestion list at once. Do 
you see any other lack, any of you?” 

They all laughed, looking about at the few 
hundred volumes on the shelves, but Frieda said 
earnestly: 


214 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


There are many Germans here, Dr. Harlow told 
me. And the older ones cannot read English. 
Can they have no share in the library?’^ 

^‘That^s right,’’ said Alice. ^‘They are tax- 
payers and I should think you ought to get a few 
German books every year, Catherine. It’s done in 
other places.” 

Algernon was at liberty for a moment, and came' 
over to the group. 

“Are we talking too much?” asked Catherine. 

“No, no. There’s no one at the reading-table. 
What are you discussing?” 

“Frieda thinks there should be German books 
here for the people in town who can’t read English.” 

“There ought,” said Algernon gravely. “But I 
don’t know what to order. I don’t want to start 
out with Goethe and Schiller. I asked the German 
minister, and he gave a list of religious books, but 
that isn’t what we want, either.” 

Frieda’s eyes shone. “Please let me make you 
a list,” she said eagerly. “ And I have two or three 
books in my trunk which I would gladly give, 0, 
gladly.” 

Algernon’s pleasure was as great as her own. 

“That would be simply bully! We can order 
one each time we send for new books, and it won’t 
be long before we have a good supply. I say, 
Catherine, would you mind taking the desk for a 
few minutes? There come the program committee 


FINDING A VOCATION 


215 


of the Study Club, and I ought to be free to talk 
with them/^ 

Catherine consented willingly, always liking to 
manipulate the simple .machinery of the loan desk. 
Frieda sat down at once with a pencil and paper 
to make out her list, and Alice and Hannah helped 
themselves to magazines and waited. 

Catherine looked about her at the little room and 
her heart swelled with pride and pleasure. So 
much had come of her thought of making Algernon 
useful. He was already quite a different person, 
with a dignity that became him well. The pile 
of cards in the charging tray before her showed that 
the library was being used by a goodly number of 
borrowers. The program committee was evidence 
that part, at least, of its use, was for more than 
mere recreation. 

“0, I am so glad, so glad!'^ sang Catherine's 
heart. “ There are so many things to be glad about. 
And see my dear, dear Wide-Awakes. I think they 
really are the most beautiful girls I ever beheld!'^ 

A stranger might have thought that rather an 
extravagant speech, for Catherine herself was the 
only one of the four who could be called beautiful. 
But Frieda^s face was unusual and interesting, 
Aliceas sweet, though plain, and Hannah^s the sort 
that always called for a second glance and a smile 
of pleasure. 

^^Have you anything in the library on the Past, 


216 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


the Present and the Future?’^ asked a voice, and 
Catherine stopped her musing. 

^^The what?’^ she asked, not believing her ears. 
She had been thinking of the past, the present and 
the future as she watched her three friends’ faces, 
but that was quite a different matter. 

“I have to write a paper on that subject,” said 
a complacent young woman, rather showily dressed, 
“and I thought I’d maybe better read up on it a 
little.” 

“I should think it would be wise,” murmured 
Catherine. “But I hardly know — ^the Past, the 
Present, and the Future of what?” 

“ Why, not of anything. Just the Past, the Pres- 
ent and the Future,” said the other, with a shade 
of impatience in her tone. “Maybe I’d better 
wait till the real librarian is at liberty. He always 
knows what to give out.” 

“ Perhaps that would be best,” faltered Catherine. 
“ It is such a very large subject, you know.” 

“Yes, that’s why I chose it. I like a large sub- 
ject. There is so much more to say on it. I wrote 
on ^ Woman’ last year, but it wasn’t broad enough!” 

A little girl, who came in wanting a fairy story, 
gave Catherine a chance to turn away and hide 
her amusement. The child wanted to know what 
the story was about, and before Catherine real- 
ized what she was doing, she had her arm about 
the little girl’s waist, and, kneeling beside the low 


FINDING A VOCATION 


217 


table, was showing her the pictures in a beautiful 
illustrated Tanglewood Tales, telling the story of 
Persephone as that sweet sad tale has seldom been 
told. 

Some one came in and wanted a book, but Cath- 
erine did not know it. Alice, who had had some 
library experience at college, stepped quietly to the 
desk and served the customer. Hannah dropped 
her magazine and stole nearer the alcove, listening 
to the story. Frieda looked up from her writing, 
as Catherine's voice, full of wistfulness, came to her 
ear: 

And Mother Ceres wandered and wandered over 
the face of the earth, but there was not any Per- 
sephone anywhere. And the grass forgot to grow, 
and the flowers forgot to blossom, and the wheat 
withered and died, for Mother Ceres' heart was 
broken. How could she care for other things, 
when Persephone was gone?" 

The members of the program committee, one by 
one, paused in their busy searching through Poole's 
Index, and waited while the sweet voice went on: 

'^And poor little Persephone was lonely down in 
the dark king's palace underground. She pined 
and pined, and would not eat or be comforted. 
And the poor King was sad, too. He wanted a 
little girl so badly, you know, and now that he had 
found one, he could not make her happy. It is a 
terrible thing not to be able to make people happy!" 


218 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


The little girl cuddling close to Catherine, her 
eyes turning only from the pictured page to Cath- 
erine's face, sighed softly. 

Algernon, watching and listening to the story 
of the tempting pomegranate, suddenly drew a 
deep breath, and his face lighted up as it always 
did when a new idea came to him. 

And then Quicksilver hurried her away, past the 
fierce dog with the three terrible heads, and up to the 
world again. Such a dry parched world! Not any 
green grass, not a single flower. Not a single 
corn-stalk or spear of wheat. And poor old Mother 
Ceres sitting at home on her door-step, weary and 
sad and hopeless, wishing for her own little girl. 
And what do you think? As Persephone and 
Quicksilver walked along, pretty fast, you may be 
sure, for you can think how eager the little girl 
was to see her dear mother again, all along the sides 
of the path where they walked, the grass turned 
green and the flowers began to blossom and nod, 
and the corn-stalks lifted up their heads and waved 
new tassels, and the wheat sprang up, and the trees 
put out fresh leaves, and the birds sang, and the 
little dried-up brooks began to run and ripple over 
stones. And Mother Ceres, sitting and looking 
out over the dry brown world, suddenly saw a 
green glow over everything and she stood up, very 
angry, and said: ‘Does the earth disobey me? I 
said that if the earth should ever grow green again. 


FINDING A VOCATION 


219 


it should be along the path by which my daughter 
should come back to my arms. ^ 

^^And then a sweet child voice said: ^Open your 
arms, dear Mother, for I have come back to you, 
and all the earth is green and blossoming!^ 

The little girl threw her arms around Catherine's 
neck and kissed her. 

^^0, I’m so glad she came back,” she cried. 
^^Tell me about it again.” 

Catherine smiled but her eyes were dreamy 
still. Algernon made his way over to her. 

You found my vocation for me,” he said eagerly, 
“and now I’ve found yours. We’ll have a story- 
hour in this library hereafter, — with bars up to 
keep the grown-ups out! You’re better than the 
professional I heard at Madison.” 

Catherine looked bewildered, but Alice took her 
hand and squeezed it. 

“I knew you could. I heard you once Helling’ 
to Jonathan Edwards out under the hemlocks 
when you thought no one else was listening. It’s 
a glorious gift, dear, and I feel sure you’ll do wonders 
with it some day. See! Hannah and Frieda are 
almost crying! Come on, girls. She doesn’t even 
know what she has done. We’ll have to take her 
home and have her mother explain it!” 

Catherine revived from her dazed condition suf- 
ficiently to protest against being led out of the 
door, and the four went gayly up the hill together; 


220 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


but Catherine’s mind was intent on the suggestion 
which Algernon had made. Professional? Work? 
A vocation? Anything so simple and delightful, 
and natural as telling stories? Could I do something 
that would make lots of people happier and better, 
as Aunt Clara’s pictures do, and Mother^s work and 
Father^s?” The bliss of the idea was quite too much 
for her, and she broke away from the others, ex- 
claiming : 

“Pll race you all to the porch steps. One, two, 
three, scramble !’" 


CHAPTER EIGHTEEN 

DOCTOR^S ORDERS 

Dr. Helen, dismissing her last patient at the 
office door, glanced into the waiting-room. To her 
surprise, she saw Alice sitting there with a magazine 
in her hand. 

^^Why, my dear, what is wrong? Are you ill? 
Come in here.^^ Alice rose and followed her into 
the little white room. 

Nothing is wrong. I wanted to see you alone 
for a few minutes, and I thought this was the best 
way to do it. Are you quite free now?’^ 

“Entirely. Sit down in this comfortable chair. 
I was startled. To have you fall ill after a week 
with us would be distressing.^^ 

“It has been such a dear week!’^ sighed Alice. 
“ And I Ve rested all the time and have loved being 
with the girls. No, I^m quite well. But I had a 
letter from Mrs. Langdon, at Dexter, you know, 
just before I left home, and she told me I might 
tell you, if I cared to, what she has never let me tell 
any one outside the family, — ^that is, that I am one 
of the girls she is helping through college. I'm 


222 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


glad she said I might, for IVe often wished Catherine 
knew, and it will be next best if you do/^ 

It is a rather trying condition of Mrs. Langdon’s,’^ 
said Dr. Helen sympathetically, ^^and sometimes 
creates difficult situations for the girls concerned, 
but I long ago gave up hope that she would ever 
change her ways. I quite understand how you feel, 
because, during my last two years at Dexter, I 
was one of her girls, too.^^ 

“You?’^ Aliceas tone expressed the deepest sur- 
prise, and Dr. Helen continued. 

“My father could not afford to send me, and I 
earned the money for my first two years, and was 
struggling along, trying to spend several hours a 
day earning money and at the same time to keep 
up with my work, when Mrs. Langdon, who was 
staying at home that winter, heard about me from 
friends. She helped me finish my college course, 
and gave me substantial aid in taking my pro- 
fessional course. I repaid the money afterward, 
but I couldn’t repay the kindness.” 

“She is wonderfully kind,” said Alice, “though 
her queer ways make you forget it sometimes. 
I had had letters from her before I left home the 
first year, of course, about the business part, and I 
went on, feeling that I wasn’t going entirely among 
strangers, but she paid no attention to me at all. 
It was only by chance that I met her in the spring 
through Hannah.” 


DOCTOR^S ORDERS 


223 


^^Poor child! You must have been much disap- 
pointed and very lonely at first. But she is a friend 
worth having, in spite of her peculiarities. I am 
glad she let you share your secret with me. Did 
she say anything about her own health when she 
wrote? I almost never hear from her.’^ 

^‘Not a word. But she asked me to call on her 
old friend, Madam Kittredge, while I was here.^^ 
^^She is our pastor’s mother, a beautiful woman, 
and nearly blind. You must certainly call. Cather- 
ine always makes the rounds of the old ladies among 
our patients once a summer, and she loves to go 
to Madam Kittredge’s. She must take you. I 
wonder — What is that? Come!” 

A rustling of skirts and the sound of whispers 
was heard in the waiting-room. In answer to the 
doctor’s invitation, the door was slowly opened, 
and Hannah put her head in at the crack, Frieda’s 
appearing just below it, and Catherine’s just above. 

Well, here you are !” cried Hannah. “ We’ve been 
searching the house from attic to cellar for Alice, 
and finally had an inspiration and came here.” 

'^Anything so exclusive as this,” remarked 
Catherine, as she entered, makes the rest of us 
jealous.” 

Fearfully chealous,” said Frieda earnestly, put- 
ting her arm around Alice’s neck, and perching on 
the arm of her chair. 

Hannah and Catherine sat down on the window- 


224 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


seat, pushing the curtains out of the way as they 
did so. 

“ Mother really wanted to have her office curtains 
made of antiseptic gauze, said Catherine. ^^Why 
don^t you two say anything?’^ 

^^You interrupted me just as I was having an 
inspiration,’^ said her mother. 

^^0, what a pity,” sighed Hannah. ^‘Because 
Catherine is bored.” 

“Bored? Catherine? Did she tell you so?” 

“Yes, I did,” said Catherine stoutly. “I knew 
they were, too; and I thought if I owned up that I 
was, they would say they were, but they won’t.” 

“ Incorruptible politeness!” said Dr. Helen. “ How 
do you account for your own sudden ennui?” 

“It’s not just to-day,” said Catherine. “I 
really think my life is rather dull, anyhow. Of 
course, having the girls here is quite an event, 
but I wish there were big, exciting things I had to 
do or see to. Mending, and helping Inga make 
salads and beds, and even going to college is tire- 
some. Just what every one else does. And the 
worst of it is that every one expects me to be 
enthusiastic all the time!” 

They all laughed at Catherine’s disconsolate 
tone, but Dr. Helen looked professional. “This 
heat is enough to make any one cross,” she said. 
“ I suppose the rest of you feel the same way, but, 
being guests, don’t dare say so?” 


doctor’s orders 


225 


Do prescribe for us, Dr. Helen,” begged Hannah, 
don’t feel especially bored just now, but I 
often do. Going to Europe was the only event in 
my life!” 

“And going to college in mine!” said Alice. 

“Coming here is all that has ever happened to 
me,” said Frieda solemnly. 

“ You poor things! It is a serious state of affairs. 
I suppose you pine for kidnappers, or lovers or 
financial difficulties or fearful illnesses or Arctic 
explorations.” 

“Exactly!” cried Catherine. “Especially the 
last, on a day like this. But, really. Mother, of 
course, I don’t feel as I said more than once in a 
great while, and I was talking to amuse myself; 
but can’t you suggest something for us to do this 
afternoon? The more we lie around and keep cool, 
the warmer we grow. The Boat Club seems to 
have tired of picnics, and I want to do something 
while Alice is here, — something really interesting 
and pleasant to remember, something we didn’t 
plan ourselves.” 

“Yes, do tell us something,” the others pleaded. 

Dr. Helen drew a prescription pad to her. 

“Don’t talk,” she said, “while I am thinking. 
I’ll undertake the case, if you will all agree to follow 
orders exactly, and in case of a relapse, to remember 
and act upon the spirit of to-day’s prescription.” 

“Agreed!” they chorused, and then sat in silence 


226 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


and watched her hand as it moved over the little 
sheets. These she folded like powder-papers, en- 
dorsed on the outside, and handed over to her 
patients. 

"'To be taken at half-past three o^clock, in good 
spirits and your prettiest afternoon frock,^^ read 
Hannah. ^‘1 didn’t suppose that you would pre- 
scribe spirits. Dr. Helen! What does yours say, 
Catherine?” 

^‘They are all alike on the outside,” said Dr. 
Helen. “Now run away and play. I have tele- 
phoning to do, and mustn’t be bothered.” 

They bent over her for kisses and danced away, 
looking anything but bored. 

At half-past three, dressed according to orders, 
they gathered on the porch, and at a signal opened 
their little papers. 

There was a minute of silence, and then their 
eyes met, annoyed and yet amused a little. 

Hannah spoke first. 

“Evidently the rest of you aren’t any more 
fascinated than I am! I didn’t count on going 
off all by myself to see a stranger! But we asked 
for a prescription, and w.e all promised to follow 
it, so here goes. Doctors always give disagreeable 
medicine!” 

“Mine isn’t unpleasant, except that I have to 
do it alone,” said Alice. “Which way does Madam 
Kittredge live, Catherine?” 


doctor's orders 


227 


^^Two doors beyond Dot's,* where we were yester- 
day. You can't miss it. I wish I could go with 
you, but let's hurry up and get back. Do you know 
the way to yours, Frieda?" 

''It tells the way plainly enough," said Frieda, 
grumbling a little. "But I think I wish I were 
a scientific Christian, like the ones you told me 
about!" 

The others laughed sympathetically. 

"Too late to save yourself now," said Hannah. 
" Go ahead and get it over, and then we'll get even 
with Dr. Helen some way for playing us such a 
mischievous trick. Good-by. I have to go down 
town for mine." 

Dr. Helen from her window watched them 
separate, and smiled. A few minutes later Bert 
appeared, looking for some one to amuse him. 

The doctor told him of the malady that had 
seized her maidens, and of their quest for healing. 

"It's an epidemic," said Bert solemnly. "I've 
got it bad, and I saw Arch an hour ago, and he was 
so low he couldn't even smile. Said he was going 
to cut out paper dolls or string buttons, if this 
kept up. Can't you prescribe for us. Doctor?" 

"Why, yes. Get Archie and bring him up here 
to supper this evening. Tell him he needn't smile. 
Perhaps my ladies-errant may have stories to tell 
that will ease your pain a little!" 

Bert joyfully undertook to bring Archie, and set 


228 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


off at once while Dr. Helen gave Inga instructions 
for an especially festive supper, and with her own 
hands prepared a frozen dessert. 

The four girls, who had barely slept apart in the 
week since Alice’s arrival, were now walking along 
widely separate paths, each one feeling oddly alone, 
and yet not wholly disliking the sensation. Cather- 
ine, well-used to her mother’s ways and beliefs, 
smiled to herself as she went off to tell stories and 
play cat’s cradle with the washerwoman’s little 
girl, who had a “spine” and had to be “kep’ quiet 
with high epidemics somethin’ fierce.” 

“It’s just like Mother,” she thought. “She 
knew I was peevish and really needed to be alone. 
Just as she used to send me to my ‘ boudoir’ to pout 
by myself when I was little. The hours with the 
girls seem so precious that I can’t bear to lose one, 
but I suppose I did need to be alone. You know, 
Mr. Squirrel, or Mr. Oakkitten, as Frieda would 
call you, what George Herbert said: 

‘ By all means use sometimes to be alone. 

Salute thyself : see what thy soul doth wear.’ 

“You needn’t scamper away up the tree so fast. 
I’m not going to stay round here long enough to 
interfere with your looking over your spiritual 
wardrobe. I wonder if your soul wears soft gray 
fur?” And the story-teller walked quickly on 
through the woods, chanting to herself : “ Old world, 


DOCTOR^S ORDERS 


229 


how beautiful thou art!’’ and planning for an unusu- 
ally effective denouement for the tale of the Three 
Little Pigs. 

Hannah, traversing the blistering length of Main 
Street, had arrived at the gloomy brick building 
labelled Hotel, and had inquired for Mrs. Tracy of 
whom her prescription told her this much: ^^Trav- 
elling man’s wife, convalescent after long severe 
illness.” 

Mrs. Tracy would receive her in her room, and 
Hannah followed the proprietor, who was also 
bell-boy and head waiter, up the shabby stairs, 
feeling decidedly foolish, but determined not to 
give up. 

Once inside the room, she forgot her own feelings. 
It was a most doleful place, with ugly walls, cheap 
stained furniture and huge figured curtains; but 
she was met by a sweet-faced young woman in a 
soft blue negligee. 

“ Dr. Helen telephoned me that you were coming,” 
she said, taking Hannah’s hand and looking into 
her eyes with a bright look that made Hannah feel 
interested at once. 

^^Will you take the place of honor?” She in- 
dicated a stiff little settee, upholstered in magenta 
cotton velvet. 

^^It must be what the Courier advertisement 
meant, when it spoke of furniture, 'warranted 
upholstered,’ ” said Hannah seating herself, and 


230 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


smiling her most merry smile at her attractive 
little hostess. 

The thin face almost dimpled with pleasure. 

^‘So you read the Courier j too! Mr. Tracy 
bought back numbers of it to amuse me, and IVe 
collected the most delightful clippings. You see, 
I'm alone so much. The nurse wasn't very en- 
tertaining, and my husband has to be away all the 
week, and I have to have some one to laugh with, 
or at least, something to laugh at!" 

“What fun!" said Hannah. “Do show me your ' 
clippings." 

“I was just pasting in a birth notice when you 
came," said Mrs. Tracy, lifting a small scrap-book 
from a table. “It's about as good as anything. 
‘Mr. and Mrs. Ezra Kling are the proud parents 
of a fine baby girl. Present indications are that the * 
lovely lump intends to stay.' " 

“0!" Hannah shrieked and leaned forward to 
look. Mrs. Tracy handed her the book. 

“That's why I cut them out and paste them. 
No one would believe them, otherwise. Here is a 
gem of music criticism : ‘ As he stepped to the edge 
of the platform, the word Artist came- to every 
lip. His natural pathos mingled with his baritone 
in such a manner that it was impossible to tell 
where one left off and the other began. And in his 
dramatic numbers, the writhings of his face showed 
the convulsive agonies of a soul in pain.' " 


doctor's orders 


231 


“ One of my friends told me about a singer coming 
to a little village, and they described her appearance 
and her dress, and wound up the paragraph by 
saying: ‘The soloist wore white shoes. No other 
stage decorations were necessary.' " 

“Delightful — unless it was deliberate wit! As it 
was in a Kansas paper, which spoke of some one's 
‘blowing large chunks of melody out of a flute.' 
But the charm of these Winsted gems is the entire 
unconsciousness of the writer. For instance, here: 
‘ The elite lingerie of Winsted invited their gentleman 
friends to a leap-year ball I '" 

“0, see here!" cried Hannah, turning the pages 
joyfully. “ ‘The hall was decorated with syringe 
blossoms!' " 

“ Only a misprint, and I saw in a Chicago paper 
the other day that one of the fashionable ladies 
wore a gown with a gold-colored y-o-l-k. This is 
partly a misprint, too, ‘easy hairs were scattered 
about with a lavish hand.' But I think it would 
take a hand that was powerful as well as lavish, 
to scatter easy chairs very generally! That was 
the same party where the hostess and her daughters 
‘dispensed with the refreshments in the dining- 
room!' But I am not going to keep you laughing 
over the Courier all the afternoon," and Mrs. Tracy 
tried to take the book away from Hannah. 

“Just one more," she begged. “Listen! ‘Mrs. 
Gray's speech was replete with wit, wisdom and 


232 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


winsome ways.^ 0 dear, Mrs. Tracy! I never 
saw anything so funny as this book in all my life!'^ 
“The trouble with it is that it gets one started 
on a certain line, and it is very hard to get away 
from it.^^ 

“Like telling funny names you have heard,^^ 
suggested Hannah. “Alice and Catherine and 
Frieda and I got to telling those last night, and we 
laughed so long and so hard that Dr. Helen came up 
and put us to bed!’^ 

“Did you have any funnier than Pearl Button?^' 
“Not really?’^ protested Hannah. “Alice swore 
she knew one girl called Dusk Delight Dinwiddie, 
because she was born at twilight and they thought 
she was delightful. That was what we were laugh- 
ing over when Dr. Helen came in, and she stopped 
long enough to tell us of a college acquaintance 
of hers named Revelation Rasmussen, who married 
Will Kelly, and an Ella G. Gray whom they nick- 
named ‘Country Churchyard’!'^ 

“What jolly times you girls must be having,’’ 
said Mrs. Tracy. “ You see, I know all about you. 
Dr. Helen — I began calling her Dr. Smith, but I 
couldn’t keep it up — ^has told me all sorts of interest- 
ing stories, and those about you four are the most 
entertaining. I listen to all your doings as though 
you were characters in a serial story. You don’t 
mind, I hope?” 

“Mind? Of course not. We aren’t story-book 


doctor's orders 


233 


girls at all, though, but very flesh-and-bloody! 
Why didn't Dr. Helen tell us about you before, and 
let us come to see you?" 

^^It has only been a little while that I have felt 
like seeing people, and when she suggested sending 
her daughter, I told her not to, for I didn’t want 
your fun interrupted. And I remember when I 
was your age, I dreaded calling on sick people. 
I always felt as though I ought to carry them 
tracts or—" 

‘^Wine jelly," finished Hannah. ^^Yes, that's 
the way I felt a little, to-day. I was afraid I'd 
not be able to think of anything to say, and I 
planned to offer to read to you." 

“That was very good of you, but I've read and 
been read to so much that I'm glad of other occupa- 
tions. The nurse exhausted the library's resources. 
Then I took up picture puzzles. Mr. Tracy brings 
them out to me every week, but we both get cross 
about them because they interest us so that we 
spend half his precious day over them! Just now 
I am trying to teach myself to knit, out of a book, 
and I'm in a dreadful tangle. I think the chamber- 
maid knows how, and I mean to ask her." 

“0, let me bring Frieda in to show you. She 
knows how to do all such things, and would dearly 
love to. And you ought to meet all your story 
characters and see if we are like what you imagined. 
I must go now, for Dr. Helen expressly said that 


234 the wide awake girls 

I wasn’t to stay long, and I know you are tired.’’ 

“I’ll soon be rested, and it has been such fun to 
have you. Wait! Let me give you one of my 
roses!” 

Hannah took the rose, and then put out her hand 
for good-by. There was something so sweet and 
winning about the white little face, where tired 
lines were showing in spite of the smile, that Hannah 
impulsively bent over and kissed it; and then, 
promising to come next day with Frieda, she flew 
down the corridor and out into the street, entirely 
recovered from her ennui of the morning. 

Frieda, meanwhile, was following minute direc- 
tions which led her at last to a tiny cottage by the 
riverside. She went up the walk and rapped on the 
door. No one answered. A second attempt was 
as unsuccessful, and Frieda turned away, half 
ready to give up this strange errand which she did 
not quite fancy. Dr. Helen had asked her to go 
to this house and buy flowers! It did not look like 
a florist’s. There was a garden behind the house, 
though. She decided to go back there before giv- 
ing up. Dr. Helen usually was wise. 

Behind the house was a neat, neat garden, with 
vegetables and berry bushes and gorgeous flowers 
of every kind. There were little trees whitewashed 
up to the branches, and whitewashed stones marked 
the corners of the paths. Frieda stood looking 
about with pleasure, when she saw coming down 


DOCTOR S ORDERS 


235 


the path a little old lady with a black knitted shawl 
over her head, and a little old man in carpet slippers, 
with a big pipe in his mouth. They met her shyly 
and she put her errand in her embarrassed English. 
The old lady shook her head and looked hopefully 
at the old man. He shook his and grunted. Frieda 
tried once more. She frequently had difficulty 
in making herself understood. This time she used 
gestures, and made such an earnest effort to be 
clear that the old people began to look worried. 
The old lady shook her head again and then, turning 
to her husband, asked him something in German. 
Then there was excitement! Frieda plunged into 
German with them, and the others, delighted to 
find she knew their language, talked fast and 
faster. 

When she told them she was newly come from their 
beloved country, their eyes filled with tears and 
they asked question after question. Leading her 
to an arbor under the whitewashed trees, they made 
her sit down. The little old lady hurried into the 
house and brought out Kuchen and beer. Frieda 
was blissful. They spoke good German, and had 
visited Berlin. They were full of respect when they 
learned that Frieda's father w^s a Herr Professor, 
for they themselves had been simple tradespeople. 
In answer to her questions, they told her how their 
children had come to America, had prospered, and 
had sent for the old parents. With sad voices 


236 


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they explained their entire inability to adjust 
themselves to the new country and the new ways. 
The language they had not even attempted to 
acquire. At last, their sons had built this little 
cottage for them, and, with a grandchild, who 
spoke both languages, to act as interpreter, they 
lived peacefully and quietly on. 

^‘But we miss the old country sometimes,^^ said 
the grandfather. “ Our neighbors and the pleasant 
evenings and the bands. 

^‘DonT you know the other Germans here?’^ 
asked Frieda. ^‘Dr. Harlow tells me there are 
many.^’ 

^‘They are not from our part of Germany,^^ said 
the little grandmother gently. And they are 
Methodists, while we are Lutherans.’' 

“ But our sons come often to see us, and we have 
the garden and each other,” said the grandfather 
cheerfully. And sometimes we get hold of a 
German book or paper.” 

^‘0!” cried Frieda delightedly. “There will be 
many German books for you soon,” and she told 
them eagerly about the library and the list of books 
Algernon had already ordered at her suggestion. 
They listened with intelligent interest, and ex- 
changed looks of pleasure at the thought of such 
a storehouse to draw on in the long winter evenings, 
“when the garden takes its nap,” as the little 
Frau said lovingly. 


doctor’s orders 


237 


The sun was perceptibly lower when Frieda rose 
to go. Then she remembered Dr. Helen’s errand. 
The faces of her host and hostess shone at the name. 
^‘Heavenly kind! Yes! She had done much for 
them. They would send her flowers gladly, but 
sell them to her? Never!” 

With big shears they cut great stalks of eveiy- 
thing the garden contained, and, piling Frieda’s 
arms with blossoms, while she uttered protests 
and exclamations of delight, they escorted her to the 
gate. There, in spite of her boasted emancipation 
from childhood, she dropped a courtesy and left 
them, crying AdeP’ as long as they could see her. 

At the supper table at Three Gables, Dr. Helen, with 
Bert on one side, and Archie on the other, called 
on each girl in turn for her story of the afternoon. 

Alice’s turn came last. 

‘Ht was such a beautiful prescription!” she said, 
went to see Madam Kittredge. Her daughter 
took me up to her big room furnished with old 
mahogany heirlooms that made me feel as though 
I were in New England. And there in an arm-chair 
sat the most beautiful white-haired woman I ever 
saw. She is quite imposing and grand, but her 
smile saves her from being awesome. I loved her 
at first sight, and was not shy about staying alone 
with her. You would hardly know she is blind, 
would you? And she is perfectly delightful. She 
asked about Mrs. Langdon, and told me some droll 


238 


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stories of her odd ways, even when she was a young 
girl. She and Mrs. Langdon and another girl were 
together a great deal when they were young, and 
now they live within a radius of a hundred miles, 
but she says they never travel, so it might almost 
as well be a thousand. One is blind and one is 
lame and the third is deaf! She laughed about it 
as though it were not sad at all. The deaf one has 
been quite ill recently, and Madam Kittredge is 
making the prettiest present for her. She says 
Mrs. Langdon writes regular letters to them both, 
but Madam Kittredge can reply only by dictation, 
or by sending little gifts, and she takes the greatest 
pleasure in doing that. She showed me what she 
was getting ready for ^Matty,^ as she calls the one 
who lives in Milwaukee. It seemed so queer to hear 
her speak of Mrs. Langdon as ‘ Sue ’ ! If you should 
see her once, — turning to Bert, who sat beside 
her, — ^^‘you would appreciate it. She is almost 
a fierce-looking old lady, and she says the most 
startlingly frank things if she chooses. I donT 
believe any ordinary person could help being a 
little afraid of Mrs. Langdon, but Madam Kittredge 
seems to think her a delicious joke. But I started 
to tell about the present. You see, this Matty is all 
alone in the world. She never married and she 
hasn't much money, and she just loves pretty 
things, especially pretty colors. And so Madam 
Kittredge is sending her a rainbow basket. It 


DOCTOR S ORDERS 


239 


ought to have seemed pathetic to see her handling 
the colored things and hear her telling about the 
pleasure she was sure her friend would take in them, 
when she couldn’t see them herself, but somehow 
it wasn’t. She doesn’t seem to think of herself at 
all, and so she doesn’t make other people. She said 
she made excellent use of her sight while she had it, 
and can picture everything clearly now. The basket 
itself was beautiful, a big green sweet-grass scrap 
basket, with a great green bow. And inside were 
six parcels, each tied with a bow of ribbon, so that 
all the rainbow shades are there. The friend is 
to draw one each day for a week. Mrs. Kittredge 
undid them and let me look. She says she likes 
the feel of the soft paper and ribbon. First was 
a little red rose bush in a pot — ” 

'^Is she going to send the thing that way? How 
can she?” 

^‘1 asked, myself, and she smiled and said she 
allowed herself some extravagances, and one was 
to carry out her little ideas like that without mind- 
ing if they did cost rather more doing it her way. 
She said her friend would enjoy the rose ten times 
as much coming that way as she would if it were 
ordered from a Milwaukee florist, so she’s sending 
it. I like her independent spirit!” 

''It might take an independent fortune as well,” 
remarked Dr. Harlow, "but Madam Kittredge is 
fortunate enough to have that, or its equivalent. 


240 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


and she uses a good proportion of it in conventional 
charities, so she is safe from criticism if she chooses 
to assist the express companies. Perhaps she’s 
a stockholder in one, for all I know! What did she 
have for orange, Alice?” 

box of tangerines, with those tiny, tiny ones 
like doll oranges; I forget what you call them. 
They looked so pretty in a nest of green. The yellow 
parcel was a little sunset picture, only a little colored 
photograph, she said, but with a charming glow. 
The basket itself was for the green stripe in the 
rainbow, and there was a lovely pale blue knitted 
scarf, which Madam Kittredge made herself. The 
indigo bothered her, but she sent her daughter 
searching everywhere till she found a beautiful 
Persian pattern ribbon with an indigo ground, and 
she made that up into sachets with violet scent.” 

^‘That finished off two at once,” said Hannah. 
^‘If I were Matty, I’d object. I thought you said 
there were six parcels.” 

‘‘One of the sachets was done up with dark blue 
ribbon and the other with violet. But there was 
still another parcel, a white one, the prettiest of 
all, for it held skeins of all the soft shades of em- 
broidery silk you ever saw in a white silk case. 
I don’t see how any one could help liking to look 
at them. Madam Kittredge said that what sug- 
gested the whole idea to her was Matty’s writing 
about how she enjoyed having colored silk samples 


doctor’s orders 


241 


to look at, as she lay in bed. She does embroidery, 
too, when she is well enough, so she will like the 
silks to use, by and by.” 

^^What a charming basket!” Catherine drew a 
deep breath of pleasure. should love to see 
it:” 

She said she shouldn’t send it for a day or two, 
so if you go in to-morrow, you can. I’m sure she’d 
love to have you. She wanted one more thing to 
make it complete. You see, without intending it, 
she had put in something for every sense but hear- 
ing. There was color and fragrance and touch 
and taste, and she said she wanted to get some 
music into it, and she couldn’t think how. Of course 
her friend is deaf, but that didn’t matter. She said 
her mind’s ear was as true as ever, and she wanted 
her to hear something out of that basket. And 
wasn’t it lovely! I happened to think of something 
which she said would do exactly!” 

^^What?” Tell us!” Think of having a hand 
in such a pretty present!” The other girls leaned 
forward eagerly, and the boys looked almost as 
interested. Alice went on a trifle shyly, as she came 
to tell her own part. 

“ I suggested some little poem full of color words, 
and that delighted her and she thought a minute. 
I didn’t know any, and I wished Catherine were 
there with her headful! But Madam Kittredge 
has a headful of her own. She had me get out two 


242 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


or three books and look up some that she thought 
might do, but they didn’t just suit her; and then 
she had me open her clipping book and hunt for 
one called Indian Summer. It was just the thing 
and I loved it the minute I read it. She let me copy 
it for her, and make an illuminated initial with her 
water-colors. She seems to have everything imagin- 
able in that big roomy desk of hers. I was glad of 
the chance to copy it, for I could learn it and I 
want to keep it always.” 

“Please recite it for us,” said Dr. Helen, and, the 
others all joining in her request with words or looks, 
Alice repeated the beautiful lines lovingly: 

“ Faint blue the distant hills before, 

Yellow the harvest lands behind; 

Wayfarers we upon the path 
The thistledown goes out to find. 

“ On naked branch and empty nest, 

The woodland’s blended gold and red, 

Dim glory lies which autumn shares 
With faces of the newly dead. 


“Tender this moment of the year 

To eyes that seek and feet that roam; 
It is the lifting of the latch, 

A footstep on the flags of home. 


“ Now may the peace of withered grass 
And goldenrod abide with you; 
Abide with me — for what is death? 
Fall of a leaf against the blue.” 


doctor’s orders 


243 


Feeling that a benediction had been pronounced, 
they all adjourned to the porch, Dr. Harlow sitting 
down by Archie and chatting with him in a friendly 
way about his own Andover experiences years 
before, while the girls talked quietly with Bert, 
who had dropped his nonsense for the time. Dr. 
Helen was sitting a little apart, but by and by 
Hannah slipped over to her chair. 

“I’m not so very clever about things,” she said, 
“and I always like to have them explained. So 
won’t you tell me just what you meant by this 
afternoon? You know we all promised to use the 
prescription again, if we needed it.” 

“ Yes,” said Dr. Helen encouragingly, and waited. 

“Well. You might have meant several things. 
You might just have meant that we needed a change. 
We had been sitting about and wishing it was cooler 
and talking nonsense and gossip — ^almost! — ^and 
we hadn’t been doing anything useful. Perhaps 
you wanted us to find out that we’d be happier 
if we did something for some one else, even if it 
looked disagreeable at first. I’ve always had that 
preached to me I” 

“I didn’t preach!” objected Dr. Helen. 

“ No, you prescribed. That’s your way of preach- 
ing, though. You set us to preaching to ourselves, 
and it’s much more objectionable. I can shut my 
ears when other people preach to me, but I can’t 
get away from myself! But I was wondering if, 


244 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


perhaps, besides all that, you didn^t want us to 
see how cheerful and happy some people manage 
to be without much to make them so. Even that 
little girl with the spine plays she is an enchanted 
princess, Catherine says, and has lovely times, 
winding balls of yarn and cutting paper chains. 
She has to get a certain number of them done before 
the enchantment will be broken. I know who 
suggested that idea to her,’^ said Hannah, looking 
searchingly into the doctor’s face. ^‘Fve found 
out a lot of things this afternoon about you, pro- 
fessionally. Perhaps that was what you were 
after ! J ust advertising !” 

Dr. Helen’s laugh at this brought Dr. Harlow 
over to her; and Archie joined the other group. 

Go on, Hannah,” said Dr. Helen, seeing Hannah 
hesitate a little. “Dr. Harlow will be interested 
in your analysis of my prc^scription.” 

“I wasn’t going to analyse it any more, but I 
was just thinking that whichever you meant, they 
were really all of them the same thing Miss Lyndesay 
meant when she talked to us about being laetus^ 
I mean, laetae sorte mea, I mean nostra!’^ 

Dr. Harlow chuckled softly, but Dr. Helen 
put a kiss on the sweet mouth with the earnest 
curve. 

“When you finish school, Hannah,” suggested 
Dr. Harlow, “ you can come out here and help us in 
the office, making up prescriptions for spiritually 


DOCTOR^S ORDERS 


245 


afflicted folk — ^weVe all got to take up that line 
nowadays, you know — ^and handling the Latin 
end of the business. Helen never was strong on 
Latin. She translated ‘E 'plurihus unum’ as ^One 
too many^ when she was young 
The boys got up to leave, and the doctor^s raillery 
was checked, but Hannah pondered over it as she 
went up to bed. About midnight she heard him 
closing the doors for the night, and, slipping her 
bright kimono over her night-dress, she stole out 
into the hall and half-way down stairs. 

^^Dr. Harlow,^^ she called softly, and the doctor 
looked up to see her leaning over the banister, her 
curly brown braids falling forward. 

^‘1 know now why you laughed,^^ she said. “It 
should be sortibus. Laetae sortibus nostra! 0, dear 
no, nostris. I guess I^d rather do the surgery, and 
let you attend to the Latin!’' 

“Perhaps it would be wise!” said Dr. Harlow. 


CHAPTER NINETEEN 


JOURNALISM 

“I’m glad you’re all here. I’m in the deuce of a 
mess, and I want to be helped out.” 

So speaking, Max seated himself upon a porch 
settee and waited for expressions of sympathy and 
curiosity from the girls before him. When he had 
received them, he deigned to give a few details. 

“You know. I’m to be editor of the college paper 
next year, and Morse has promised me all summer 
that when he went away for two weeks’ vacation, 
he’d let me take his place. Well, he went last 
week and I got out the Courier. It was a good 
number, too. I don’t suppose any of you noticed 
the difference?” 

“ I remember hearing father say the editorial was 
especially good,” said Catherine. 

“And I heard Mrs. Tracy bewailing the fact 
when I went in to see her yesterday, that the paper 
had lost all its spice, and there wasn’t a single 
ridiculous item in it, not even a funny typographical 
mistake, so I’m sure you ought to feel compli- 
mented,” said Hannah. 


JOURNALISM 


247 


“It’s true enough, but that’s just where my 
pickle comes in,” said Max gloomily. “I didn’t 
tell any one about it, because I wanted to carry 
it through without any one’s knowing. But the 
reporter has struck, because I blue-pencilled his 
notes. He says no college boy is going to tamper 
with his work, and he’s just calmly left; and what’s 
worse, his brother has withdrawn an ^ad’ which 
means quite a loss for Morse. I see now why Morse 
let so many things go by !” 

“That is a pity!” said Catherine sympathetically, 
while the others declared themselves in stronger 
terms. Max looked gratified. “Now what I want 
of you girls is to help me gather* up news and make 
the next paper better than any issue has been since 
that young puppy came on it. And I’ll get ‘ads’ 
enough to offset the brother’s withdrawal, and a new 
subscription if I have to pay for it myself. I want 
to leave things in at least as good shape as I found 
them. Jenkins will come back again as soon as 
Morse does. He loves to write his wild stuff, and 
is only willing to stop for a week, because he feels 
important, acting insulted. Probably thought I’d 
eat humble pie and raise his salary, too. Why, he 
had the Ortmeyer-Rawlins wedding fixed out with 
a scare-head THE WAY OF ALL FLESH! And 
started it out with a quotation from Shakespeare 
or somebody about Love looking with the mind, 
not with the eyes! The bride and all her male 


248 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


relatives would have been down at the office with 
sticks. She’s a pretty girl, you know!” 

“ It would have been worse, if she hadn’t been,” 
said Alice. What else did you cut out? It sounds 
like my pupils’ work. I’ll help you blue-pencil. 
It’s just my line.” 

^^The other things weren’t funny, just poor 
constructions and general flatness, personals that 
were too personal, you know, and that sort of thing. 
But he had a rhapsody on Dawn all worked up that 
he wanted fo run in, this week. It began: ^When 
I arise at daybreak, a thousand quotations surge 
into my mind!’ The fellow is daft on quoting. He 
sits with his feet on the desk and reads Bartlett 
by the hour. Well, I’m rid of him, and I’m looking 
for substitutes.” 

“I’d like nothing better than reporting,” said 
Hannah. “I’ll interview the prominent strangers 
who come to town and get their views on things. 
Imagine me strutting around the hotel lobby, 
getting acquainted!” And Hannah assumed the 
swaggering manner which she fancied characteristic 
of reporters. 

“ The only prominent stranger in town is Frieda,” 
laughed Max. “You’ll have to get her opinion 
of American education or the tariff.” 

“ That’s easy. I know all Frieda’s opinions. 
If they are favorable, she gives them out plainly, 
and if they aren’t she keeps still, so it’s no work 


JOURNALISM 


249 


to guess at them. I wish I could do like she does!’' 
she added, with a sudden earnest tone in her voice. 

blue-pencil all your reportings, if you use 
such grammar as ‘like she does!’ ” said Alice 
sternly. 

“Then I’ll get mad and resign as Jenkins did!” 
answered Hannah. “ I guess I know the privileges 
of a reporter!” 

“Do you think you could get the news?” asked 
Max. “I suppose I could manage alone, but I’d 
like to have the paper fuller and better than ever, 
and I thought if you girls would go in, we could have 
a lark out of it, and not tell the rest.” 

“Indeed we can get news!” cried Catherine. 
“ If you let us tell Mother and Father, they can give 
us news which will be perfectly legitimate, and 
Hannah and I have some calls to make. Frieda 
doesn’t want to go, and Alice wasn’t here when 
these girls called. They are some of the gossippy 
kind, and we’ll let them talk and report as much 
as seems fair. And the Three E’s meet here this 
week, and we can make a good society column 
thing of that.” 

“ Why not have Algernon give you library notes?” 
suggested Alice. 

“He does, always, but he would be glad to do 
something extra, I’m sure,” said Max. “I don’t 
know but it would be a good plan to take him in on 
this. He’s in a position to gather news easily.” 


250 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


I don’t see how I can help/’ said Frieda, sadly. 

“If you’ll tell me something interesting about 
German schools,” said Alice, “I’ll write it up, and 
that will go in as our contribution. You could 
make room for it, couldn’t you, Mr. Editor?” 

“Indeed, I could. I’d be mighty glad to get it. 
It would be better than filling up with poetry, the 
way they often do. By the way, I did cut out a 
poem of the reporter’s. I forgot all about that. 
Wonder where it is,” and he began searching in 
his pockets. 

“That’s what made him angry,” cried Catherine. 
“ Anybody would be angry at that. Was it a very 
bad poem?” 

“I can’t remember much of it. Only it had a 
refrain every two inches of ‘My woe! My woe!’ 

‘I cannot tell the world my woe,’ 

was the way it began, and then he went straight 
ahead to try to do that very thing. Here! I’ve 
got a scrap of it. 

‘ Things are seldom what they seem , 

Nor is Life what its livers dream, 

My woe, my woe !’ ” 

The audience shouted with laughter, but Catherine 
looked sympathetic. 

“Poor boy!” she said. “He probably loved his 
quotations and his poetry, and had looked forward 
to Mr. Morse’s being away to have a beautiful time 


JOUENALISM 


251 


with the paper. I don^t blame him for resigning 
and eating his heart out. Not a poem of mine will 
I send you, Mr. Penfield, or any of your hard- 
hearted staff. I’ll confine myself to finding out 
what’s happening in Winsted, and leave the head- 
lines to your own inventive genius.” 

Two days later, the editorial staff of the Courier 
had an impromptu meeting in the library. Max 
had come in to ask Algernon for notes, and Catherine 
and Hannah were waiting for Frieda and Alice to 
join them to go to a tea at Dot’s. 

We’ve called on the biggest gossips we could 
find,” called Hannah cheerfully, as Max came in, 
^^and I’ve got at least ten items.” She showed a 
note-book which slipped inside her card-case. 

She was dreadful !” said Catherine. She would 
stop and make notes before we had got a block 
away from the house, for fear she would forget, 
and asked questions that made me hold my breath.” 

“Well,” Hannah defended herself. “I wanted 
details. I don’t want just little bare sentences. 

^ And Catherine was just as bad. She took such an 
interest in the new people who had moved in next 
door to the Galleghers’, that I know the Gallegher 
girls were almost scandalized.” 

Max ran his eye over Hannah’s list of news 
items approvingly. “That’s a fine start. Can’t 
you do some more calls?” 

Catherine shook her head. '‘No, we don’t know 


252 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


any more of the very gossippy kind, but we are going 
to a tea at Dot’s, and we’ll make a society note of 
that. How are the editorials coming?” 

Max made a wry face. “I declare, I’m pretty 
nearly stumped. At college there always seemed 
to be a lot of vital matters to discuss. But here 
there isn’t anything after a little spiel on the crops 
and a paragraph on politics. I don’t dare go in 
heavy there, for I’m not sure just what Morse’s 
position is, and don’t want to commit him. I can’t 
think of any public enterprise to work up, or any 
nuisance to be suppressed.” 

^‘1 wish you’d suppress mosquitoes and flies,” 
said Hannah, brushing away one of the latter 
insects,- and petting a swollen place on her wrist. 

^‘Why not write an editorial on it?” suggested 
Catherine. '‘You can give him material to read, 
can’t you, Algernon?” 

Algernon came over to the corner where the three 
were talking in tones fitting a library. 

"What’s that? 0, indeed, yes,” and the boy’s 
face lightened with pleasure as he found some one 
really desiring information of a worthy nature. 
" I’ll get you something right away. There was an 
article in a last month’s magazine.” 

"I could do elegant head-lines,” said Max: 

" KEROSENE THE KONQUEROR ! 

MOSQUITOES massacred! 

THE FLIGHT OF THE FLy!” 


JOURNALISM 


253 


As Algernon, brought the magazine and a book, 
Alice and Frieda arrived in their party raiment, 
and, bidding the boys good-by, the four girls drifted 
out and down the street looking like pretty butter- 
flies. 

Max lingered for a few minutes’ chat with Alger- 
non about the paper, telling him some of his dif- 
ficulties and desires. Algernon’s store of informa- 
tion proved of value here, too, and Max accepted 
gratefully a hint or two about the mechanical part 
of the work. 

say, Swinburne,” he said suddenly, as he got 
up to go, taking fly and mosquito literature with him, 
“ couldn’t you get off and run up to Madison for a 
few days this fall? I’d like to show you around 
and have you meet some of the fellows. If I were 
you, I’d try to pass off a few subjects. You could, 
without half trying, and perhaps you’d be able 
to get up and take your degree some time.” 

Thanks,” said Algernon, /^’ll think about it,” 
and Max went whistling away; but Algernon, as 
he selected a fairy tale for the little Hamilton 
girl, felt his heart light and his courage high. I’ll 
get to college yet, as true as I’m alive,” he said 
aloud, and the little Hamilton girl looked up at him. 

What did you say?” she asked. I don’t want true 
stories, but fairy ones.” 


CHAPTER TWENTY 

THE THREE R^S 

The meeting of the Three R’s the next evening 
was one of particular importance. Not only to the 
eager reporters, who found that even Dot’s party 
would not spread out sufficiently to use up the space 
they had allotted to social events, but to the club 
members themselves. It was Judge Arthur’s fif- 
tieth birthday, and as he was a childless man, 
quite alone in the world, his friendly neighbors 
were determined to make the day memorable for 
him. The meeting was to be at Three Gables, so 
the journalists were behind the scenes from the start. 
The only difficulty in the way of their writing it up 
was that they were so busy all day that there was 
not time to take a pen in hand. 

always see to the refreshments when they 
meet here,” said Catherine to her three helpers, 
as she appeared, wearing by Hannah’s request, her 
brown smock. ^‘You can crack the nuts for the 
salad if you will, Frieda; and Hannah, if you and 
Alice will get the dishes out of the way, that would 
be the most help. Mother wants Inga to sweep 


THE THREE R^S 


255 


the living-room, and we can have a jolly time out 
here.” 

“ You ought to see the kitchen at Frieda^s house, 
said Hannah, as she made a fine suds in the rinsing 
pan and poured it over the glasses. ^^What did 
you think of our black stoves and things, Frieda?’^ 

“I saw one in the American church first, you 
know.’’ 

Hannah smiled at the diplomatic evasion. “ You 
are the nicest thing I ever saw, Frieda. You don’t 
say anything unfavorable of anything any more. 
When I was at your house I kept criticising the 
whole country. But you are so polite, — as polite 

Karl!” 

Frieda looked pleased, but she only said sedately: 

We were children when you were in Berlin, Hannah. 
Now it is proper for us to act like grown-ups.” 

^^You were awfully grown-up in that pillow 
fight last night!” 

Instantly the mask of primness vanished from 
Frieda’s face, and roguish twinkles showed them- 
selves. 

Don’t let me ever catch you turning prig, 
Frieda Lange,” advised Hannah. '‘And now don’t 
ask me what a prig is, for I don’t know in German, 
and there’s no way here to find out. What else 
are you going to have for eats, Catherine?” 

Catherine shuddered. "I suppose you’d think 
I was a prig if I told you how I hate that word 


256 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


' eats/ SO I won’t tell you! The chief thing to-night 
is the birthday cake, of course. And Inga is going 
to make grape-fruit sherbet. It’s so nice with a 
little tang of tartness to it, you know. And we’ll 
have olive sandwiches with the salad and coffee. 
You can all help with those!” 

“It’s such fun to help,” said Alice. “At home 
there are so many of us, and no maid at all, you 
know, and we have awfully jolly times, really. 
Mother is cook and she has a different scullery- 
maid for each meal. And the rest of us divide up 
the rooms, and so on. The boys are great workers, 
too. Even little Jack brings in kindlings and 
wipes the silver. He plays the knives are men, 
and the forks their wives and the spoons the little 
children.” 

“0, so did I, always,” cried Catherine. “And 
it used to worry me dreadfully not to know positively 
that the proper couples were together. Once I 
tied them all neatly with different colored silks, 
but Mother didn’t approve. Through with the 
nuts so soon, Frieda? Then you can begin on the 
sandwiches.” 

“ Ach ! The butter is too difficult !” 

“Cream it, then. So!” and Alice illustrated. 
“I’ll go to work on these, too, while Hannah puts 
away the dishes, for I don’t know where they belong.” 

“All right,” said Catherine. “But please don’t 
talk, any of you, for a few minutes. I don’t want 


THE THREE R^S 


257 


to lose a word that any of you say, and Fm afraid 
the cake may suffer/^ 

Dr. Helen stopped at the door and looked in at 
the group of silent workers. They all threw her 
kisses, and she went smiling on her way. 

“I wish I had four of my own,^’ she thought 
to herself. How the other mothers must be miss- 
ing them! Four more interesting and delightful 
girls I never have known. Hannah has grown 
more mature since I saw her last, and Frieda is 
distinctly unique. Alice is the kind you can tie 
to. But I really think, without prejudice my 
Catherine is a shade sweeter and steadier and more 
responsible than all the rest!'’ 

By five o'clock the house was all ready. The 
decorations were great masses of goldenrod which 
Bert and Polly had gathered. Frieda had sug- 
gested tying them with bows of red ribbon, whereat 
the others had shrieked with horror and tried to 
Americanize her color sense a little. She approved 
of the birthday cake, and was interested in the big 
tin circle which held fifty candle-sockets, and would 
slip over the cake as it rested on a tray. Winding 
this circle with smilax proved a task just to Frieda's 
mind, and she worked at it with Hannah's help, 
while Alice and Catherine planned the ''recreation" 
for the evening. 

" Pm so glad," said Catherine, stretching a little, 
" that we don't have to get the Rest ready for them. 


258 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


Refreshments and Recreation are enough to provide 

“You need the Rest yourself/^ said Hannah. 
“I think it was a shame that out-of-town call had 
to come for your mother this afternoon. She would 
have enjoyed these things, and she looked so tired.^^ 

“I know. But I’m so glad she could go away 
and feel sure I’d carry things through. You don’t 
know what a comfort that is to me! Whenever 
I feel discouraged about things, I always pluck 
up spirit by remembering that I’m really useful 
to her. I couldn’t practise medicine myself, you 
know, but there have been lots of things Mother 
couldn’t have done, if I hadn’t been here to help 
at home. I wish she could be here this afternoon, 
though, for she is so clever at foolishnesses like 
this.” 

“You’re clever enough at it, yourself,” growled 
Hannah. “I don’t see how you can do it. You 
and Alice make me sick with envy. You can cook 
and manage and tutor and make rhymes and every- 
thing, and I can’t do much of anything!” 

“How about playing the violin?” suggested 
Alice. 

“I can’t do that,” said Frieda suddenly. “I 
cannot do one thing. 0, there comes Dr. Helen, 
after all! We were wishing you were here,” and 
Frieda sprang up and ran to meet the doctor. 
The others followed her and in an instant Dr. 
Helen found her arms full of welcoming girls. 


THE THREE R S 


259 


‘‘I met a messenger on the way, telling me that 
I need not come, and I’ll admit it was a relief. 
I knew you’d get on all right, but I did want a 
finger in the pie. There! You may put my hat 
and coat away, Hannah, if you will, and I’ll get 
right to work. How prettily you are putting that 
smilax on, Frieda!” 

“That’s right to cheer Frieda up. Mother,” said 
Catherine. “She was just saying that she couldn’t 
do anything.” 

“Frieda was saying that? I thought you em- 
broidered that wonderful apron yourself?” 

“ 0, of course, but that is only Handarbeit/^ said 
Frieda. 

“Hand work is highly valued these days,” re- 
marked the doctor. “ If you could teach Catherine 
to sew so well, Frieda, I should be even prouder 
of her than I am now. But it must not distress 
you when you find that there is some one thing 
you can’t do. No one does everything well. It’s 
one of my pet theories that for every talent one has, 
there is some other he hasn’t. It’s part of the 
balancing of the world. Think how very disagree- 
able it would be if there were one person who could 
do everything, and some one else who could do 
nothing at all.” 

“Don’t you think there are some people who 
can’t do anything?” asked Alice. 

“Not really. Some people never seem to find 


260 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


their special line. Fve known people so perverse 
they wouldn’t do what they could, simply because 
they would have preferred something else. But 
I’m a firm believer that every one has a gift.” 

“Is Handarbeit a gift?” asked Frieda, looking 
with respect at the graceful vine twining over the 
shoulder of her blue apron. 

“Indeed it is,” said Dr. Helen. “And it is a 
gift more widely distributed than everybody knows. 
If you can, do help Catherine to discover that it 
is one of hers!” 

“She helped me find out that I liked to sew,” 
said Hannah. “I hated the sight of a needle 
before I went to Germany. But I didn’t know 
you hated sewing, Catherine.” 

“ I don’t,” Catherine answered tranquilly. “ But 
there are always so many other things to do, and 
there is so much to read. It makes me shiver to 
think that I have only three years more at Dexter, 
and I haven’t begun to read all I want to. I’d 
like to move over to the library and stay there.” 

“That’s a serious criticism of your college life, 
Catherine,” said Dr. Helen. 

Hannah giggled. “I suppose there is a library 
at Dexter, but I was there a whole term, and never 
went inside it once!” 

Everybody laughed. “Well,” said Dr. Helen, 
“that was the other extreme. But I suppose if 
you young people were all- wise and learned, there’ d 


THE THREE R^S 


261 


be no point in sending you to college at all. And 
the world would be much more monotonous if it 
were filled with grown-ups! What a conflagration 
those red candles will make, Frieda 1^^ 

Catherine had left her seat and gone across the 
room to the poetry section of the bookcase, and was 
now turning the pages of a small green book. 

“ Listen to this Singing Leaf, Mother! 

“ ‘ The wisest finding that I have 
Is very young, no doubt, 

Yet many a man must needs grow old 
Before he finds it out. 

“ ‘ How happily it comes about — 

And I was never told ! — 

That we must all be young awhile 
Before we can be old ! ’ ” 

Dr. Helen laughed. “That is certainly very 
appropriate, and a good close to our rather sermoniz- 
ing talk. I suppose fifty-year-old birthday parties 
should lead one to serious thinking! But now 
show me how far your nonsense rhyming has pro- 
gressed. It^s nearly supper time.^^ 

The Three R^s were early comers and late stayers. 
Before the summer twilight was over, they had 
gathered in force. Alice, counting, suddenly said: 

“Why, there are just forty-nine. Wouldn^t it 
be fun if just one more should come?^^ 

“Who isnT here?'^ asked some one. “Perhaps 


262 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


there will be one other, though almost everybody 
has come.” 

“The Judge himself isn’t here yet/’ said Dr. 
Harlow. “He’ll make the fiftieth. There he is! 
Let’s line up, and give him a royal welcome!” 

The suggestion “took,” and the little judge came 
up the walk, bowing on all sides, and smiling. 
As he reached the door and shook hands with Dr. 
Harlow and Dr. Helen, he looked about him peer- 
ingly. “Where’s my girl?” he asked. 

“Here I am,” said Catherine, “and here is a little 
souvenir for you. Judge Arthur, with wishes for 
many returns of the day.” She presented with a 
flourish, a huge feather duster adorned with a great 
green bow. That was the signal and the others 
at once produced parcels of all sizes and shapes, 
and bestowed them upon the judge, who opened 
them under a rapid fire of friendly wit. 

The special form of recreation offered for the 
evening was called “ Strange Compounds.” Cather- 
ine had taken the idea from the nonsense verses 
which had been spreading over the country as gener- 
ally as the limericks of a few years before. The 
guests grouped themselves at little tables, and 
some, with shears and pages cut from old natural 
histories, geographies or poultry and live stock 
journals, created grotesque illustrations for the 
verses descriptive of the hippopotamustang and the 
kangarooster and other strange beasts which 


THE THREE r’s 


263 


Catherine and Alice concocted during the afternoon. 
Others labored over historical combinations and 
the deeds of Bathrobespierre were sung in limpid 
strains, and the plaintive history of Old Black Joan 
of Archaeology set every one off into a gale of 
mirth. The Three R’s had done so many foolish 
things together in the many years since their be- 
ginning as a club, that they were ready to laugh 
before a joke was thought of, and in that atmos- 
phere of appreciation the frailest wit was bound to 
flourish. Mrs. Osgood headed a party of gardeners 
whose attempts at grafting produced such startling 
results as cro-custards and gerani-umbrellas. When 
some one requested help in developing the theme 
of a dis-aster. Judge Arthur shouted from the 
animal table that he had attempted to draw a wild- 
cat-astrophe and the picture would probably do 
for both! 

Just in time to save them all from mental collapse, 
the white-gowned maidens brought in the dainty 
salad, sandwiches and cups of fragrant coffee. 
Then the noble birthday cake, wreathed in scarlet 
flame, was set before the judge, the candles blown 
out with good wishes, and the cake cut and served 
with the ice. 

Dr. Harlow rose to announce that the prize for 
the most complete compound was given to Mr. 
Kittredge, who had conceived of a ‘^pigeon-toad, 
with a lovely long dove-tail, and a pot-pied waist- 


264 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


coat ringed and streaked, and a sweet dove-cot-ton 
veil/^ Frieda and Hannah came solemnly into the 
room, bearing a crate, from the top of which ap- 
peared the head of a rooster, with a big bow of 
ribbon around its neck. They set it down before 
the minister amid the shouts of the assembled 
company. 

“You may crow as much as you like. Sir,’’ said 
the doctor, “ but this fellow will beat you.” And 
straightway, as though primed for his part, the 
rooster opened his mouth and filled the room with 
a long and lusty cock-a-doodle-doo! 

“I was so afraid they would hear him before 
we brought him in,” said Frieda to the girls, as the 
four gathered on the window-seat. “ He kept 
growing and growing out there!” and then she looked 
bewildered at the others’ sudden mirth. Her 
peculiarities of pronounciation were so few that the 
girls could never learn to expect them, and this, 
added to the other nonsense of the evening, was 
too much for even Catherine’s self-control. 

“I never saw grown-up people do such funny 
things,” said Hannah, in order to cover their 
laughter. “Do they always act this way, Cath- 
erine?” 

“ 0, no, indeed. I never saw them put in a whole 
evening quite so foolishly before. I didn’t know 
whether they would take the idea up or not, but 
Judge Arthur loves to laugh, and lately mother said 


THE THREE R^S 


265 


they had had quite stupid commonplace meetings, — 
cards and talking politics and literary and musical 
programs, — and she wanted something entirely 
different. They^re a lot of dears, anyway! The 
younger set wouldnT tjiink of laughing so hard 
and being so hilarious, even the Boat Club; and you 
should see the formal dignified parties that the 
Galleghers and those girls give! They go in car- 
riages and the dancing doesnT begin till nine, though 
every one has a six o^ clock supper^^and almost geos 
to sleep waiting for it to be stylishly late to go. 
Max and Archie and Bess and Win always go, and 
sometimes the rest of us get in, but we hardly feel 
acquainted with each other when we meet in such 
surroundings. PoUy^s mother told her she ought 
to entertain that crowd a while ago, because she 
was indebted, ^ and she planned a luncheon party, 
and at the last minute changed her mind and got 
up a Boat Club picnic instead. That was the last 
picnic before you girls came.^^ 

^^IVe heard so much about those jolly picnics,^^ 
said Hannah, and we haven’t been to one!” 

I know. Isn’t it odd that it happens so? But 
we’ll have one the night before we go back to college. 
The moon will be full, and the boys have all the 
plans niade. There! They’re beginning to leave.” 
And Catherine went forward to help her mother’s 
guests find hats and scarfs. 

“I never heard Catherine talk so much at once 


266 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


before/^ said Frieda lazily. ^‘She looks beautiful 
to-night, too, — to boot!’^ She had just heard that 
phrase and though a little uncertain as to its exact 
significance, took pleasure in inserting it here and 
there in her speech. 

She’s a darling dear,” assented Alice, ^‘and so 
is Dr. Helen, to boot! Now let’s help Inga clear 
things away and go to bed.” 

A half-hour later, Frieda and Alice in the guest- 
room were sound asleep, and Hannah in her little 
bed was sleeping likewise. But Catherine was 
sitting by the window writing, by moon and candle 
light, notes for the Courier ^ due to appear to-morrow, 
and still lacking at least two columns! She wrote 
slowly and conscientiously, trying to be clear and 
simple, and yet not so unlike the usual style of 
the Courier as to excite comment. Presently she 
finished and, resting her elbows on the window-sill, 
looked out into the night. Capella twinkled at 
her and she leaned out to identify such of her 
beloved constellations as she could. 

The house stood high on a hillside, and overlooked 
the streets of the little town. Suddenly through 
the trees Catherine saw the gleam of a moving 
lantern, then another and a third. She heard a 
voice call, and an answer from a distance. 

I wonder what it means?” she thought, watching 
and listening. ^^It sounds and looks very myster- 
ious. Tfie Courier!’^ 


THE THREE R^S 


267 


The recently acquired news instinct recognized 
in this mystery of voices and moving lights at the 
dead of night a possible ‘‘scoop’’ for her paper. 
To be sure, her paper was the only one in Winsted, 
but that did not matter. She got up, and taking 
a long light cloak from the closet threw it over her 
shoulders, drawing the silk hood over her head. 
Then she stole out into the corridor and down the 
stairs, her party skirts rustling, and the boards 
now and then creaking under her stockinged feet. 
Down stairs she stopped, put on her pumps, and 
then let herself out, closing the- door softly behind 
her. 

Outside everything was very still. Catherine 
felt a little frightened and foolish. But having 
started, she would not turn back. Resolutely she 
went down the walk in the direction in which she 
had seen the lights. 

“I might take Hotspur, though,” she thought, 
and turned back toward his house under the porch. 
The big dog sprang up to meet her, and leaped upon 
her, then drew her toward his kennel. Puzzled, 
Catherine followed him, and once there, knelt down' 
and looked inside. Curled on the straw inside 
the roomy doghouse were two little figures. She 
pulled at them and called. Suddenly one sat up 
and said: “Mamma! Peter!” 

“Perdita Osgood! what are you doing here?’" 
and Catherine drew a sleepy dishevelled-looking 


268 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


little girl out and into her arms. Perdita blinked 
and woke entirely. 

“Elsmere and me went journeying/^ she said, 
“and we stayed all night in Hotspur’s house, so 
bears wouldn’t get us.” 

Then Catherine remembered the other slumberer, 
and dragged Elsmere out with more force than 
gentleness. 

“ I see now what the lights and the calling were,” 
she said. “ They discovered that the children were 
not at home, and were out looking for them. Poor 
Polly and poor Algernon! Elsmere, wake up here, 
and come along home this minute. There, Perdita, 
I’ll carry you, you sleepy, naughty little girl. Els- 
mere, come along. Give me your hand.” 

Down the hill they went, and through the short 
cut to the Osgood house, Elsmere running beside 
Catherine, who walked as rapidly as though Perdita 
had no weight. Hotspur leaping and bounding 
alongside. 

In the path, through a little grove, they saw a 
twinkling lantern and Catherine called: 

“Polly, Algernon! They’re here! I’m bringing 
them home.” With a rush the lantern-bearers 
were upon her, and Perdita was taken from her arms 
into Mr. Osgood’s, while Algernon, husky and faint 
with relief, picked up his brother and listened to 
Catherine’s story. She followed the others to the 
Osgoods’, where Polly and Mrs. Osgood were waiting 


THE THREE R^S 


269 


in suspense. Perdita had been put to bed as usual, 
but when Mrs. Osgood came home from the Three 
R^s party she had gone in to tuck the children up, 
and kiss them good night. Perdita was not there, 
and they searched the house before they thought 
of being alarmed. Not finding her anywhere, they 
had roused Peter and questioned him. He could 
only say : I say, ‘ Perdita, Perdita, stay home with 
Peter. Elsmere bad boy. ^ 

That suggested Elsmere, and investigation showed 
that, though he had not been missed at home, he 
was not there. Then the men had taken lanterns, 
and gone out to search. 

No one was more distressed than Peter. “I^d 
ought to tooken care of Perdita better, he would 
sob. “I’d ought to watched her better.” 

“ There, there, boy,” Catherine and Polly soothed 
him. “You did your best, and she’s home now, 
all safe, and won’t go journeying again, ever. 
She didn’t like Hotspur’s house, and she will stay 
home with Peter.” 

“0, Catherine,” sighed Polly. “You are an only 
child, and you don’t know what agonies you can 
have over your brothers and sisters. It seems 
to me ever since Peter and Perdita were born 
I’ve been worrying about one or both of them!” 

“Poor Polly!” said Catherine sympathetically. 
“But I don’t suppose you’d give me your share in 
them, would you?” 


270 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIKLS 


Polly caught Peter close, and hugged him till 
he protested and drew away from her. 

“ Kiss me,^^ she begged. 

“ I did,’^ said Peter. 

“ Kiss me again. 

I did twice, said Peter. I want to go to bed. 
Aw-ful sleepy!’^ and, with a yawn that set the others 
to imitating him, he stumbled off toward the stairs, 
in his little night clothes. Polly followed to make 
him comfortable, while Mr. Osgood took Catherine 
home. 

^‘You did us a great service to-night, my dear,” 
he said, as he lifted his hat to say good night, when 
she had reached her home porch. ^‘But I haven’t 
learned yet how you happened to find them.” 

“I was out reporting for the Courier she told 
him and then, laughing softly at his astonished 
expression, explained her meaning. ‘^And though 
I did find out the news, I can’t write it up,” she 
sighed. ‘‘I know how real journalists feel when 
they have to sacrifice a scoop for reasons of delicacy.” 

^^The Courier shall not suffer!” said Mr. Osgood. 

Since it was for its sake that you went out. I’ll 
have to see that Max gets a little assistance. My 
profession doesn’t advertise, but I have some influ- 
ence with one or two concerns that do, and I’ll see 
that your next number is full of something more 
profitable to the management than harrowing ac- 
counts of midnight searches for missing babies!” 


CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE 


THE LAST PARTY 


Rain. 

Rain. 

Rain. 

beastly/^ said Alice, with her nose pressed 
to the window-pane, watching the cold drifting 
downpour. 

Let’s go in and see if the others are awake.” 

So Frieda put on her heavy leather slippers, 
lined with figured satin and edged with fur, and 
a very bunchy bathrobe, and followed Alice’s 
kimonoed figure across the wide corridor to Cather- 
ine’s room. 

They pushed the door softly open and entered. 

Then they exchanged glances of mischief. Dr. 
Helen did not believe in girls sleeping two in a bed, 
but Alice had found the big mahogany bed in the 
guest-room lonely, and Frieda had found the cot 
narrow; so they had made a law for themselves 
and slept together; and here, in Catherine’s four- 
poster, were also two heads, one auburn and one 
brown. 


‘272 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


^^Wake up, you two!^’ said Alice, tickling Han- 
nah^s plump cheek, while Frieda tweaked the pink 
bow from Catherine’s bronze braids. 

“Time to take off your pink bow, dear. It’s 
daylight and it looks worse than goldenrod with 
red ribbon. ” 

“Ouch! You needn’t have given that last yank. 
I’m awake. Hannah!” 

Hannah sighed and turned over. “Don’t bother 
me,” she said. “I didn’t get to sleep last night 
until this morning.” 

“Why aren’t you in your own room and bed?” 
asked Frieda severely. 

“I’ll wager you two slept together, yourselves,” 
said Catherine. “0, Hannah, do wake up! It’s 
raining!” 

“Yes, that’s what we came to tell you,” said 
Alice. “We’ve just been watching it wash away 
our beautiful moonlight picnic.” 

Hannah sat up and looked out. 

“Isn’t it beastly?” she remarked. 

“I should call it foul,” said Catherine, beginning 
to comb out her great braids. 

“Why not fish-ous?” suggested Alice mischiev- 
ously, whereupon Hannah pitched a pillow at her. 

“Ow! Look out for my glasses!” 

“Well, don’t make such flat puns then. I believe 
you sleep with your glasses on. How funny they 
must look staring away in the dark. There goes 


THE LAST PARTY 


273 


the rising-bell Til beat every one of you to break- 
fast/^ 

Dr. Helen was not sorry to see the rain. An all 
afternoon picnic, with the evening and a late- 
rising moon added, did not seem to her a wise plan 
for the day before going back to college,— 'though 
I do dislike putting a damper on your pleasure,’' 
she said at breakfast. 

" There's a damper on this one, " sighed Catherine. 
" Alice has not been up the river yet, and the other 
girls haven't been to one real Boat Club picnic. 
Mother!" and an inspired look came into Catherine's 
eyes, "why couldn't we have our picnic in the 
library instead? It would be as appropriate a way 
to end this summer as on the river, and this is one 
of the closed evenings. Don't you think we could?" 

The other girls held their breath with eagerness, 
while Dr. Helen considered. 

"I don't see any objection," she said presently. 
"I suppose that would be more fun than having 
them all come here?" 

"0, heaps more," cried Hannah. "It would 
be the j oiliest kind of a lark." 

"Would the Board be willing?" suggested Alice. 

"I'm sure of that," said Catherine. "Algernon 
will be the hardest to persuade, for he feels as though 
the library were almost holy ground, but I'll inter- 
view him at once." 

The telephone was kept busy for the next half- 


274 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


hour; by its means everything was arranged, and 
every one notified, and the girls went to work mak- 
ing preparations for the supper. Polly and Dot 
came over in the afternoon and the time slipped 
quickly by, trunk-packing and sandwich-making 
being mingled in what seemed to the doctor, some 
of the time, an almost hopeless jumble. At last 
the sounds of talk and laughter and running up 
and down stairs ceased. The boys had arrived to 
carry baskets, and a rain-coated procession tramped 
gayly off, waving good-bys now and then to the 
two doctors standing in the window. ' 

“It hardly seems as though Catherine could be 
the same girl,^^ said her father. “She is so eager 
and full of fun.’^ 

“But she keeps her quaint sweet dignity all the 
same,’^ answered Dr. Helen softly. “She will 
never lose her characteristic charm, and it is such 
a comfort to have her well enough to wish to eat 
a cold supper in that bare little room!’^ 

“CanT they heat the place? asked Dr. Harlow 
sharply. 

“0, yes,^’ his wife assured him, “and they have 
all solemnly promised me to dry their skirts as 
soon as they get there! Hannah always contrives 
to get into puddles. 

^^She^s not much changed,’^ chuckled the little 
doctor. “Her language is as funny now and then 
as Frieda^s. She told me they were going to rele- 


THE LAST PARTY 


275 


gate themselves on watermelon this evening!’’ 

“It was a fortunate day for us when Catherine 
found her,” and Dr. Helen’s eyes smiled, as they 
always did when Hannah’s image came before her 
mind. “ And, do you know, I am very much pleased 
with Alice. She has the honestest eyes, and her 
manners are as unconscious and simple as can be. 
I should like to see her mother. ” 

“Father’s not so important, of course! But 
I agree with you, she’s the true blue sort. It’s 
Frieda for me, though. Of all inscrutable counten- 
ances, hers is the most. I believe she is, on the whole, 
the most unforeseen young person I have ever had 
dealings with, and in whatever direction she may 
choose to let herself out, in the future, she will do 
something interesting, or ‘ I shall astonish ’!” 

At which quotation from the young lady in ques- 
tion, they both laughed, and went out to their own 
supper, not at all sorry to have a quiet evening 
alone. 

It was not a quiet evening in the little library. 
Behind the drawn shades, the boys and girls were 
busy spreading the long reading-table with a white 
cloth, setting out upon it the motley collection of 
plates, cups and silver ware which came out of the 
various picnic baskets, and an equally motley, but 
very appetizing, array of good things to eat. Winifred 
had laden Max with a chafing-dish, all legs and 
handles, he declared, and with this at one end. 


276 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


Bess’ little copper teakettle at the other, Dorcas’ 
asters for centerpiece and Polly’s red-shaded candles 
at accurate intervals between, the whole effect was 
‘‘very festival,” as Frieda said admiringly. 

As a finishing touch, Bertha and Algernon, 
official hosts, walked around the table laying type- 
written catalog cards at each place. 

The others swarmed around instantly, examining 
and commenting. 

“ Cunning ! ” “ Real library place cards ! ” Wliat 
a pretty idea!” “But what do they mean?” 

Algernon and Bertha only laughed. 

“No one can sit down till he has found his proper 
place,” said Algernon sternly. “This is a well- 
conducted library!” 

“They all have the same number,” cried Bert. 
“I’m on to that. See! It’s the date, fixed up to 
look like the mystic symbols they mark the books 
with. 190.9 Se 16. September 16th, 1909. That’s 
so much gained. Now some of you others can figure 
out the rest. I’ve done my share.” 

The others wandered around the table, picking 
up the cards and laying them down again. 

Brightness j or Beauty,” read Polly, disgustedly. 
“Imagine any one of us owning up to that! Of 
course, we all know we have them both, but who is 
going to claim them?” 

“It’s going to be a conflict between modesty 
and hunger soon, I can see that,” said Archie. 


THE LAST PARTY 


277 


Peace and Purity are all well enough. If I could 
find a half-way sort like Perfect Honesty or Genius, 
stop there! What’s this? Bright Raven! I tell 
you, it’s a game, made out of book titles. But I’ll 
be jiggered if I ever heard of one of them.” 

^‘I never did, either,” said Dorcas, shortly. 
^‘They must have hunted around in very queer 
places to find things that none of us know. Star 
of the Sea, though, does sound familiar. Isn’t it 
one of Tennyson’s?” 

Bertha choked and turned away, avoiding Alger- 
non’s eye. 

“Hurry up, and find yours, the rest of you,” 
said Tom suddenly, “I’m fixed and I’m ready to 
eat.” 

Every one pounced upon him, to discover that 
he had chosen to install himself at a place marked 
The Whiskered One. 

“I’m the only fellow here who ever wore a mus- 
tache,” he said, “so it’s plain, though rather far- 
fetched.” 

“It’s not your place, though, Tom, truly,” said 
Bertha. “I’m afraid we’ll have to help. The 
librarian always does help stupid people.” 

“We won’t ask him, though! If you two were 
bright enough to make these cards, we’ll figure out 
the meanings or go without our supper, ” said Polly 
decisively, and the girls echoed her, though the boys 
groaned, and Max helped himself to a sandwich. 


278 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


'^Now, listen/^ said Polly. “I’m president of 
this club, and I call you all to order. I’ll read the 
cards, one after another and you must all think, 
and perhaps we’ll be able to get on to the system — 
I mean, to understand it.” 

Every one struck an attitude and waited while 
Polly walked up one side of the table and down the 
other, reading aloud in order: 

“ The Whiskered One. 

Chastity. 

Star of the Sea. 

A Twin. 

Consecrated to God. 

Extremely Bold; or Holy Prince. 

Peace. 

A Lover of Peace. 

Brightness, or Beauty. 

The Greatest One. 

Purity. 

The Woman Strong with the Spear. 

Bright Raven. 

Grace. 

A Gazelle. 

A Princess of Noble Birth.’ ^ 

When she had finished, there was a moment’s silence 
and then everybody but Hannah burst out laughing. 

With a little “0!” she fiew across the room to 
the big dictionary, and opening it toward the back, 
dropped on her knees before it. 


THE LAST PARTY' 


279 


I have it!’^ she cried joyfully. I used to study 
and study the meanings of names when I was a 
youngster, and here they are. Mine means Grace 
and I know where I’m going to sit, and the rest of 
you can find out in a minute.” 

The long delayed supper was at last eaten, and 
sitting idly around the table, with watermelon rinds 
before them, the young people talked over the sum- 
mer which seemed already closed. 

We’ve accomplished a lot, haven’t we?” said 
Polly. “I’m really proud of the Boat Club this 
year. It never used to stand for anything but its 
own fun before, but from now on it will be a recog- 
nized factor in Winsted life.” 

“Bully for you, Polly!” said Bert. “I never 
heard any one say Tactor’ offhand like that. It’s 
one of the words I’ve always held sacred to special 
topics and theses and such.” 

“Like ^objective’ and ^subjective’?” asked Polly. 
“ I always feel about those as the old lady did about 
her pies, after she labelled them T. M.” 

“What did she label them like that for?” asked 
Frieda, leaning forward from her seat between 
Winifred and Archie. 

“ 0, dear, ” sighed Bert in mock despair. “ Frieda 
has made us explain all the old jokes we knew this 
summer, and I don’t see how that one was over- 
looked. Did you ever hear the riddle about when 
a door is not a door, Frieda?” 


280 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


^^Yes/’ said Frieda good-naturedly. was 

in an English book I learned. There was a whole 
chapter on riddles, and the answers were printed 
upside down!” 

That dear Edith and Mary book!” cried Hannah. 
“Such a fine lot of riddles as there were! I think 
you and I ought to give a copy of that book to the 
library, Frieda!” 

“That reminds me,” exclaimed Algernon. “We 
have had gifts to-day. I saved them to tell you 
when you should all be listening, for they came to 
us through our honorary members, the Wide- 
Awakes.” 

“Hear!” “Hear!” shouted Max, but Polly 
rapped the meeting to order. Alice and Hannah 
and Catherine and Frieda looked puzzled, and the 
others interested, as Algernon went on. 

“Mr. Kittredge told me to-day that they had 
voted to give the Sunday-school library books to 
us, as he thought the public library much more 
important than theirs, and they wanted to help all 
they could, following the good example of several 
of the Sunday-school teachers. That's a compli- 
ment to Dorcas and Catherine, both. So that's 
one of the four ^notorious Wide-Awakes,' as Mr. 
Graham calls them. And then a Mr. Tracy came 
in with his arms full of boxes, and said that his wife 
had been ill here at the hotel for some weeks, and 
she had amused herself during her convalescence 


THE LAST PARTY 


281 


with working on picture puzzles; now she was well 
and going away, she did not want to take them with 
her, and, as the Winsted Library had been a great 
help to her, she would like to give them these six 
or seven puzzles, to be loaned to people like books. 
She said she thought a small library like this where 
the librarian knew every one personally, could 
easily handle such a department, for convalescents 
and lonely old people. Pictures and games and 
all such things might be included, to be loaned at 
the librarian’s discretion, only.” 

^^What a good idea!” cried Polly, ^^but how do 
the Wide-Awakes come in on that?” 

Just this way. Mrs. Tracy said that if we would 
let her name the collection, she would be glad to 
add to it from time to time. And when we con- 
sented, as, of course, we did, she said she wanted 
it called The Hannah Eldred Department.” 

Three cheers for Mrs. Tracy!” shouted Bert, 
and Max sprang to his feet and led off with a right 
good will. Then followed cheers for Hannah, for 
Catherine, for the Wide-Awakes and the Boat Club. 
When the noise subsided, Algernon took the floor 
again. 

That’s not all, either! You know, most of you, 
that Frieda started the German part of the library, 
giving some books and an invaluable list ; but none 
of you know what Miss Prescott told me a day or 
two ago. It is a secret, but I think she will let me 


282 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIELS 


tell it now, just for completeness, won^t you, Miss 
Prescott?” 

Alice blushed and smiled. 

If you really wish, but I don’t like to be thanked 
for what is only a promise as yet. ” 

Never mind about that. It will be more than 
a promise soon. Miss Prescott does very clever 
designing, and she heard me lamenting the fact that 
we have no book-plate for the library, and most 
kindly offered to furnish one.” 

^‘I’ll submit it to my teacher in designing,” said 
Alice shyly, “and then Mr. Swinburne will present 
it to the Board to accept or reject as they see fit. 
You’re not bound to take it, but I did want to help 
along somehow!” 

^^We ought to do that cheering all over again,” 
said Archie, “but I move you. Madam President, 
that Miss Lange and Miss Prescott consider them- 
selves specially included in the yells of a moment 
ago, and that the meeting proceed to sing the Boat 
Club song.” , 

The passers-by, if there had been any, must have I 
wondered at the joyous burst of song that followed I 
this remark. As a matter of fact, however, there 
were no passers-by at all. The rain had washed 
the streets clear, and the corner lights, glimmering 
faintly through the wet, fell on one figure only. 

Standing before the library window, holding a 
great cotton umbrella over his head, and peering 


THE LAST PARTY 


283 


patiently through a crack between the casing and 
the shade, was a small boy, in an overcoat several 
sizes too large for him. 

Agnes^ seat was near the window. Suddenly 
she saw a small nose and an inquiring eye pressed 
against the crack. 

“Look!’^ she said, and all eyes followed her 
gesture. 

Bert sprang to open the door and drag the drip- 
ping little figure in. Polly and Catherine quickly 
took off the great coat and shut the vast umbrella. 
Then they drew the little chap to the table, where 
Bertha had a plate of goodies ready for him. 

Attention, everybody V’ 

Max sprang to his feet. 

'' Sing to the air of the Boat Club Song: 

“ He is the Boat Club mascot, 

Give a cheer I give a cheer I 
For the Boat Club mascot, 

Elsmere ! Elsmere ! ” _ 

^^Do it again cried Elsmere, brandishing a fork 
and making Bertha dodge, “Give a cheer, Elsmere! 
Boat Club stomach! Give a cheer!'' 


CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO 


AUF WIEDERSEHEN 

Such a bustling place as Three Gables was on that 
Friday morning! 

It seems a pity that you canT stay till Monday, 
when college really opens,’’ said Dr. Helen, pressing 
out a filmy waist in the dining-room, where the 
four girls were gathered, setting last stitches. 

But the new girls who have come on early and 
those who have had to take ‘exams’ are just the 
ones who need cheering up, and we are the official 
Comfort Committee, aren’t we, Alice?” 

Alice, fastening the thread after sewing in a 
fresh ruche, nodded. “ Got to keep the blues away, 
or perish trying to,” she said. “And Hannah has 
to be home before Monday. And Frieda needs a 
day or two to get settled. Hilda said she’d come 
back to-day, and they could get their room in order 
before Sunday. I’m so glad you’re going to room 
with Hilda, Frieda dear. She’s such a darling child. ” 

“Is she still given to crushes?” asked Hannah. 
“ She fairly worshiped Lilian Burton’s door-sill 
when I was there.” 


AUF WIEDEESEHEN 


285 


^Trushes are going out of fashion at Dexter/’ 
said Catherine emphatically. “And one of the 
reasons I thought it would be good for Hilda to 
room with Frieda was that Frieda has too much sense 
to indulge in them, and she will keep Hilda sup- 
pressed.” 

“Catherine, you have such a positive manner 
when you talk about Dexter, ” said Hannah thought- 
fully. “You’ll be House President senior year. 
0, dear! ” for Frieda, in getting up to help Dr. Helen 
fold up the ironing-board, had brushed by Hannah’s 
chair, and a fat little button bag rolling to the floor 
had emptied its contents all over the room. 

“Such a lot of buttons, Hannah!” exclaimed 
Dr. Helen, stooping to help gather them up. 

Hannah laughed. “Mamma was so surprised 
when I came back from Dexter because there were 
as many in it as when I went, and I told her there 
were more because I had put in all the buttons that 
had come off while I was there! And then she was 
shocked!” 

The door-bell rang and Inga came in with a big 
parcel for Catherine with Grandma Hopkins’ com- 
pliments. Catherine opened it, wondering, and the 
others dropped their work. 

“A cake! Did you ever in your life? And I al- 
ready have Mrs. Graham’s jelly, and Mr. Graham’s 
bag of nuts, and old Mrs. Hitchcock’s jar of pre- 
serves! Mother, how can I ever thank them all?” 


286 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


^‘How can you ever get them all transported 
to Dexter, is what I’m wondering! Do they always 
send girls off to school with food for the term, 
Catherine?” asked Hannah. 

“Well, I had cookies and mince pie to take last 
year, after my trunk was packed. Mother persuaded 
me to leave the pie, but I was sorry afterward. 
And one of Polly’s mother’s friends baked a chicken 
for her to carry all the way to Wellesley! People 
are so kind! How do you suppose I can carry this 
cake, though. Mother? It’s such an awkward shape, 
and I couldn’t pack it with my clothes!” 

“Do you remember how Inez brought a pail of 
honey in her trunk,” put in Alice, “and how it 
leaked out all over everything she had?” 

“ I’ll put the cake into a stout hat-box, and fasten 
a heavy cord and a handle on it, and you can get 
it there safely, I think. You won’t have to carry 
it, except just getting on and off the train.” Dr. 
Helen hurried off to see to that bit of packing, 
herself. 

Bertha, Agnes and Dot, and even Dorcas, found 
excuses to drop in at the house that morning. Win 
and Bess promised to be at the train. On the way 
home from school three or four of Catherine’s 
Sunday-school children ran in to say good-by. Polly 
was in and out a dozen times, and Peter and Per- 
dita came together to present a beautiful photo- 
graph of themselves in their newest garments and 


AUF WIEDERSEHEN 


287 


shiniest shoes. Dinner was interrupted by the 
trunkman^s arrival, and Dr. Harlow had to keep 
a watchful eye upon each girl to see that she did 
not forget to eat. 

Algernon and Bert came to escort the party to 
the station, and they started out merrily enough. 
When they reached the sidewalk, Catherine turned 
and ran back to the house for a private farewell 
to her mother, who preferred saying good-by there 
instead of going to the station. College seemed 
suddenly robbed of its pleasure, and the length of 
days between September and Thanksgiving intol- 
erable, but they were used to helping each other 
be brave, and they blinked away the tears and parted 
smiling, Catherine turning frequently to wave 
good-bys till the house was lost in the trees. 

It was quite like a reception at the station. While 
Dr. Harlow attended to ticket-buying, the young 
people clustered together, talking at random and 
laughing easily. 

^Ht will be so lonely without you aW/’ sighed 
Bess. ^^All the other college folk will be off by 
Tuesday at the latest, and here we shall languish!^' 

^^Youdl not have much time to languish if you 
assist in the kindergarten, Winifred, said Catherine 
affectionately. ^T’m so glad you are going to do 
it! Youdl make them sing like little nightingales. 
0, Bess, you go right by Grandma Hopkins’ on 
the way home, don’t you? Would you mind run- 


288 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


1 


ning in and telling her that the cake got off all right? 
Ill write her, of course, but I know she will want 
to know. Algernon! You don^t mean it? Miss 
Ainsworth drawing her own novels! How perfectly 
delicious! 0 Max, there you are! What did Mr. 
Morse say? Was he pleased with the way we handled 
the paper? 

^‘Seemed to be. How I wish I were still on, to 
be able to write up your departure fittingly! I say, 
who’s that odd little pair over there? They seem 
to be looking this way as if they wanted something. ” 
The others turned and Frieda, who had been 
standing in a dreary silence, listening to the chatter 
of all these dear boys and girls whom she was leaving 
perhaps forever, suddenly ran across the platform 
to where a little old lady in black with a knitted 
shawl over her head, and a little old man in ill-fitting 
clothes were standing. 

“We came to tell our little friend good-by,” 
“And to wish her Gute Reise!’^ They spoke in a 
kind of duet. 

“ Here are a few poor blossoms from our garden — ” 
“That you forget not the old people — ” 

“And a trifle of Kuchen that I made myself — ” 
“And this I have carved for you, to put your 
pens on — ” 

Frieda, beaming and exclaiming her gratitude, 
made a pretty picture and the young people, observ- 
ing her and hearing the rapid German, felt that they 



\ 




! 

i 



AUF WIEDERSEHEN 


289 


were seeing her in a better light than they had before, 
much as they had already learned to like and enjoy 
her. 

Dot clung to Hannah, and the gentle Agnes, who 
had found Alice incredibly congenial, walked arm 
in arm with her a little apart from the others, while 
Catherine in the center of th^group held her father's 
arm fast. 

They were off at last. 

thought that child in the back seat was Els- 
mere," sighed Catherine, starting up and dropping 
back again, relieved. ^‘That child actually gets 
on my mind so that I expect to see him everywhere. " 

'^Algernon tied him up, or he would have been 
there. He is a little rascal. It was a relief to me 
to have Perdita live up to her name and reputation, 
though," said Hannah. heard about her all 
summer as a little mischief, and I never saw her do 
an indecorous thing. I didn't see her do that." 

Well, you may mark my words, " said Catherine, 
“ before you have grown many years older you will 
hear astonishing tales of Perdita Osgood. Peter's 
influence will not always keep her in check. Polly 
told me that yesterday she tried to vaccinate the 
cat, with a mixture of ground chalk and vinegar! 
Peter came for help to prevent her!" 

''American children are pretty bad, aren't they, 
Frieda?" said Alice mischievously, for Frieda's lips 
were set sternly. 


290 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


Don’t make her say so/’ pleaded Hannah 
teasingly. She has made such a beautiful record. ” 

Frieda flushed a little, but slipped her hand into 
her pocket and felt there the shape of the little 
carved frame of Karhs picture and held her tongue • 
once more. She would not quarrel with Hannah 
in this last hour for anything! 

^‘Next year,” Hannah said thoughtfully, am 
surely coming to Dexter, and you three are to get 
the fire- wall room for us, and we’ll live in glory and 
rapture.” 

^‘If it were only this year!” Alice moaned out 
the words, and the others sighed with her. The 
excitement of getting off had died, and they were 
becoming painfully aware of the separation that 
was approaching with every revolution of the wheels. 

There were other passengers in the car, but they 
felt peculiarly alone, none the less. It was a curious 
tie that bound them. They felt that their friend- 
ship, so oddly started, had something more vital 
in it than most school-girl relations. They had 
all been sorry to leave bright, lovable Polly, but 
still, so long as they four stayed together, nothing 
could matter very much. 

“0, dear,” sighed Hannah aloud. “I do think , 
I spend all my time getting along without somebody ^ 
or other!” ^ 

‘We meet so seldom, yet we surely part so 
often,’” quoted Catherine musingly. 


AUF WIEDERSEHEN 


291 


^'0, Catherine, my darling, if you dare begin 
on that sad Rossetti woman!’’ cried Alice. ^^You 
don’t know how dreadful she is about it, Hannah! 
She goes about for days with a distant sad look m 
her eyes and, if she is spoken to suddenly, she says, 
^When I was dead my spirit turned,’ or ^Does the 
road wind uphill all the way? Yes, to the very end!’ 
or something equally doleful. I feel as though 
some one were dying in the next room, and I do 
believe I’ll hide the book.” 

It won’t do you any good,” remarked Catherine 
serenely. “I know almost all of her by heart. 
But you must admit, AJlie, that I do say cheerful 
things at times. You got sick of the Jumblies last 
year. ” 

^‘They were as idiotic as the Rossetti lady, in 
another way. We’ll never agree on such subjects, 
Catherine!” 

^^Well, anyhow, Catherine isn’t going to read 
so much poetry this year,” said Hannah. 

‘^Aiid Hannah is going to read more,” rejoined 
Catherine, at which Hannah made a wry face and 
set them all laughing. 

Dexter!” 

Already? 0, Hannah darling, how can we ever 
let you go on without us?” 

All three were kissing her, but Hannah laughed 
at their sorrowful faces. 

^^I’ll go out on the platform with you. And I’ll 


292 


THE WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 


carry the hat-box, Catrina. Shall you have a spread 
to-night? Oh! it^s the same dear little, queer little 
station! And there’s Miss Eliot, and Dy-the Allen! 
Glory! Glory! Glory! Dy-the, going on this train? 
Joy and rapture! I should have died of loneliness!” 

And Hannah plunged down the steps and threw 
out her arms to embrace Dy-the, when thud! out 
fell the bottom of the hat-box, and with it Grandma 
Hopkins’ lovely cake! 

Miss Eliot looked into the distressed blue eyes 
and laughed. 

“Just the same Hannah!” she said. “Dy-the, 
take good care of her and don’t let her get lost in 
Chicago. Now, child, introduce me to your Frieda 
and get back on the train at once.” 

“Here she is,” said Hannah, casting one more 
sad look at the shattered cake, over which a baggage- 
man had rolled a heavy truck. “And, Frieda, 
Miss Eliot is the one to go to, always, when you need 
anything, from shoe-strings to a scolding. 0, Cath- 
erine, I’m so sorry. I just wanted to help!” 

Catherine caught her in a mighty hug. 

“Never you mind one minute. It would have 
given us indigestion, and it was so funny to see it 
go smash! Give your father my love, won’t you, 
darling? And Aunt Clara, when you see her.” 

“ And write from the very first station, ” said Alice. 
“ I’m so glad Dy-the is going to be with you. ” 

“Give Karl my greetings,” said Frieda, holding 


AUF WIEDERSEHEN 


293 


on to Hannah^s hand tightly. ^^And 0, ever my 
love to Xante Edith and Uncle Edward!” 

“Come, Babe, not another minute,” and Dy-the, 
little but determined, plucked Hannah from detain- 
ing arms, and set her firmly on the platform of the 
rear car. There, as the train glided out, she stood, 
her eyes fixed upon the little group of three with 
arms around each other. 

“Good-by! Good-by!” she called and they an- 
swered. Then Frieda ran a little nearer, holding 
out her arms in a pleading gesture, and over the noise 
of the retreating train their voices rang out together: 

“Aw/ Wiedersehen!” 

Auf gluckliches Wiedersehen!’^ 






By the Author of “ Wide Awake Girls in Winsted’* 


THE 

WIDE AWAKE GIRLS 

By KATHARINE RUTH ELLIS 
Illustrated by Sears Gallagher. 12mo. $1.50 


The scenes are vivid and the atmosphere perfect, while 
there is a delicious humor pervading the whole work that 
' gives it an exceptional degree of novelty and interest for 

I school girls. — St. Paul Pioneer Press. 

\ 

A story of exceptional charm. Its atmosphere is delight- 
ful whether laid in Germany, the home of one of the char- 
acters; in a small Western town, where one gets glimpses 
of a home of real refinement and sincere culture, or in the 
j Western college. — Albany Argus. 

I The quiet and cultured home life presented forms a 
i pleasing contrast to the more showy and hollow life of the 
[ wealthy and wins the reader by a strong and subtle spell. 
I The whole story is fresh and bracing and full of good 
I points and information as well. — St. Louis Globe Democrat. 

With such a charming book as this to be had there is 
really no excuse for presenting a girl with a sentimental or 
a childish story with nothing new in it. . . . The whole 

I book is unusually well done and should make a most enjoy- 
able addition to any library for girls or boys or for their 
elders. — Louisville Courier Journal. 


LITTLE, BROWN, & CO., Publishers 

254 Washington Street, Boston 


ANNA CHAPIN RAY’S 

“SIDNEY” STORIES 


Having completed the “ Teddy ” books, which delighted and continue to entertain 
thousands of readers, Miss Ray in her new “ Sidney ” books utilizes new scenes and 
an entirely new set of characters. 

Anna Chapin Ray is to the present generation of youthful readers what Louisa M. 
Alcott was to her generation. Her stories may be commended for their straight- 
forward, simple style, their clean atmosphere, and their uplifting influence on the 
characters of all who peruse them, — Boston Transcript. 


SIDNEY: HER SUMMER ON THE 
ST. LAWRENCE 

Illustrated by Alice Parber Stephens. lamo. $1.50. I 

Sidney Stayre is another of this author’s true, helpful, earnest girl characters. — ' 
Denver Republican, 


JANET: HER WINTER IN QUEBEC 

Illustrated by Alice Barber Stephens, izmo. $1.50. 

Gives a delightful picture of Canadian life and introduces a group of young people 
who are bright and wholesome and good to read about . — New York Globe, 


DAY: HER YEAR IN NEW YORK 

Illustrated by Harriet Roosevelt Richards, izmo. $1.50. 

The third volume of the “Sidney Books.” in which Phyllis, Sidney’s younger 
sister, develops from a well-meaning blunderer into an affectionate, tactful character. 
— The Bookman^ New York. 


SIDNEY AT COLLEGE 

Illustrated by Harriet Roosevelt Richards, izmo. $1.50. 

In this new volume Sidney Stayre is shown as a freshman at Smith College, e& 
joying to the full the pleasures that fill her days, having her individual difficultiei| 
and with all the freshman’s adoration for upper class girls and happenings. / 


LITTLE, BROWN, COMPANY, Publishen 

254 WASHINGTON ST., BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 

•(783 




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